Special Forces: The Black Aegis
by Vault08
Summary: After a botched mission on Noveria, a Special Forces team discovers a remote facility that harbors secrets none of them could have imagined. Their will to survive will be pushed to the max, and possibly beyond. Will they make it out alive?
1. The Briefing

**Author's Note**: _Welcome to my new Mass Effect story! I've worked pretty hard on this over the last month, and after some extensive editing, I feel like it's in the best shape it'll be in. I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear what you liked and didn't like in a review or message! Thanks for checking my story out!_

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 1 - The Briefing

The wait to get to a mission was always the hardest part. There was always a mix of feelings running through a soldier, even a seasoned veteran. Confidence, second guessing, nervousness, anxiety, adrenaline, rage, in some cases happiness, but whatever they were, they were always a mix, especially if you were going in against odds that didn't lean in your favor, which was often the case for Special Forces. Recently, several small squads of Special Forces troops had been stationed around the galaxy to help aid in the battle against the Reaper forces. Though each victory didn't seem like much, the battles mattered as far as the big picture was concerned, the tiny details were what sculpted the big picture, and each soldier knew that heading into a mission.

It was no different for the four Special Forces squad members in a transportation shuttle en route to Firebase White. Petty grudges were amok amongst them, there was a Krogan, a Salarian, a Human, and a Batarian, and each seemed to have a small quarrel with the other. Not personally, of course, they knew they were on the same side, but as far as the species themselves went, they weren't the easiest to get along. But the mission came before any of their personal issues, concerning the whole species, or otherwise. A good amount of soldiers had made the mistake of reversing the order of those, and often ended up getting their whole squad killed as a result.

Everyone was completely outfitted in their armor and helmets, and their weapons rested in their holsters on the slots, avid to be fired. However, nobody told them the trip itself would take 6 hours, and impatience was mutual between them, constant sighs and groans made that evident. They were close now, though, or so the pilot had informed them.

The Human soldier got up from his seat, restless and eager for some action. He'd just been brought back in after a 6 week suspension for physical confrontation with a Batarian. Things had been tense between the Batarians and Humans after Shepard destroyed the Bahak Systems relay, which had been the catalyst for the Human soldier's fight with the Batarian, and ultimately his suspension. He could sympathize with the Batarians, but didn't take kindly to ones who wished his whole species dead because of it. He hoped the one who had been sitting next to him thought the same.

The Human approached the cockpit, and knocked on the metal hull of the shuttle. "Hey, pilot. They didn't brief us. What are we going up against?" He asked, curiously. His voice was deep, and had a small hint of a Hispanic accent.

The pilot glanced back in the general direction of the human soldier, his loose black hair sweeping across his face. "Can't say for certain. I dropped another team off just like yours here about 4 hours ago, they went dark, and either way we need this base back, finding them is just a secondary objective." He stated coldly, returning his gaze to the holo controls in front of him.

The human soldier winced, as hardened as his training had made him, he still couldn't get used to human life, and much to the same extent the other races, being so disregarded, especially as just a "secondary objective". He turned back to face the others and planted his back against the wall, his heavy armor clanking against the metal.

"Anxious, human?" The Batarian soldier asked, a hint of sarcasm and bitterness in his voice. It was no secret the Batarians hated the humans right now, they had lost 300,000 people. Friends, family, soldiers, all gone because of Shepard. Knowing whether the Human soldier even knew of Shepard didn't hinder the Batarian at all.

"Human?" He retorted back at the Batarian, shaking his head. "Name's Dominic. Dominic Vega. But you can call me Dom." He stated firmly, before letting his eyes wander to his left, staring at the Krogan who had been silent since departure. "And what about you?"

It took the Krogan a moment to realize that the human had been talking to him, He let loose a groan, before stretching his arms. Having been lost in deep thought, he hadn't even noticed the conversation."Dezor." He said blankly.

"No clan?" The Salarian chimed in. His voice was fairly high pitched, and the way his accent differed from most Salarians was interesting, his voice seemed to crack a lot as he was speaking, although it could have just be nervousness.

"Hmph." Retorted Dezor, clearly annoyed with all the questioning, which to him was unnecessary. Names were names, they were soldiers, and that's all that should matter. "Ganar. Ganar Dezor. Satisfied?" He asked, spicing up the last of his words with a fair amount of sarcasm.

"I am. And you can call me Phaes. Major Phaes Jush of the STG, transferred to Special Forces as deemed necessary one year ago." He stated, though his tone wasn't that of boasting or cockiness, just confidence.

"Impressive," Dominic replied, shifting his position and looking at Phaes. "Seen much action?"

"A good amount, yes." Phaes said, nodding his head. "Not much the first few months. Training. But I passed that easily. Recently it's picked up 100%. I helped a team secure Firebase Reactor four days ago."

"No shit? You were there?" The Batarian asked, a sudden peak of curiosity that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Phaes nodded again. "It was...brutal. The geth were tearing us apart. There were only four of us, and we lasted over 5 hours against them, we pushed and pushed...lost one man to a Prime, and another was hurt severely, entire right arm blown off by a rocket trooper. The only others were myself, and a-"

"Batarian? Jorga?" The Batarian asked.

"I-yes, Jorga, the female. I'd never seen a female Batarian before, but she's a hell of a soldier. She saved me from certain death a couple times that day." Phaes finished. "Why do you ask? How did you know?"

"She's...the only family I have left. After the Bahak...destruction, my family was gone, except her. Ironic that the two members of the family who join the military are the only ones who survive. Wrong, even." He said, shooting a one-off gaze towards Dominic, which was met eye to eye from the human.

"I'm sorry for your loss...I don't believe we got your name?" Phaes asked, looking slightly sympathetically towards the Batarian.

Slowly, he tilted his head, glancing out the window. It was evident his mind wasn't clear, and these issues were weighing him down, but he was going to do his best to focus on the mission at hand, and get the job done. "Javar Al'Rah."

"Good to meet you, Javar. Dominic. Dezor. I think-"

The Salarian was cut short as a hard jolt shook the shuttle, and nearly everyone fell to the floor with a groan.

"The hell?" Javar asked, bringing himself back up from the ground, rubbing his face.

"Alright boys, the LZ is hot and we're 10 seconds out! I'll keep in radio contact, but it's go time!" The pilot shouted from the cockpit, hands moving swiftly over the holo controls, bringing the shuttle down right in the center of the landing zone.

The shuttle opened to reveal four well-armed soldiers of the Special Forces who looked more than ready for anything they would face. They stepped down, and the first thing to greet them was the large roar of a brute slowly coming into view, along with a group of a half dozen cannibals. The Reaper forces were horrifying. Mutated slaves bending at the Reaper's command. It was a sight to truly be in awe of, if it wasn't trying to harvest you.

Firebase White didn't look good. It was mostly bare and void of anything but Reapers, sending eerie, foreboding vibes to the Special Forces team. The base itself had a decently sized layout, directly in front of them sat a small fighter aircraft, and going past that, both an entrance to the facility and a path leading around itto the side, wrapping around the base. There were plenty of small paths and multiple ways to get to a certain place, so ambushes were more than possible. The advancing Reaper troops seemed to know the area, which was a huge disadvantage. In contrast to the horrid sight of the Reapers, the snow coated everything an innocent, deceiving white, almost telling them their orders were wrong, and everything was fine here. They could go home, and nothing horrible would happen...

Another gut-wrenching roar from the brute suggested otherwise.

"Extraction in 2.5 hours, secure this base, boys!" The pilot said over the radios, before speeding off.

The four soldiers stared at the advancing Reaper troops with a confident, but cautious, stare through their helmets. It was indisputable that the odds blatantly stacked against them, but each of them knew the stakes, and wasn't going to go down without the fight of their lives. Dezor reached behind his back and pulled his shotgun from its holster, slamming a fresh thermal clip into it.

"Let's give it to them!" He shouted, before charging straight towards the group of cannibals.

The mission had begun.


	2. Firebase White

**Author's Note:** _Alright, here we are at Chapter 2! This one's a lot more action-focused, and helps to set the tone for the rest of the story, so enjoy! _

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 2: Firebase White

"Get down!" Javar shouted, diving behind a stack of crates, taking cover from the assaulting cannibals and the grenade he had just lobed towards them in a fit of animosity. Ever since Special Forces landed, they had been having a hell of a time pushing the Reapers back, and after 2 straight hours, everyone was tired, running purely on fumes and rage now, not people anymore, just soldiers, weapons.

Dezor swiftly ducked behind a large mess of crates adjacent to Javar. The two waited for what seemed like the longest two seconds ever as the cannibals kept them in tight cover, firing their arm canons at a rapid rate. The shots whizzed overhead, forcing them to keep low and safe. Finally, the loud bang of the grenade met their ears, along with the showering cannibal blood meeting their armor, destroyed limbs from the Reaper forces raining all over the area.

"Hell yeah!" Dezor shouted, leaping over the crate He'd been unusually quiet on the landing shuttle, but now, in the heat of battle, he was shouting insults, Krogan war cries, and making plenty of remarks about the fight as it raged on.

The more blood that spilled, the happier he was.

Dezor had been taking the most damage out of the four, constantly at the front of the battlefield. He was charging into hordes of cannibals, even taking a banshee head on and miraculously coming out alive. But to him, it was only his job. Tactical, intelligent, and powerful, he wasn't just a formidable foe for the Reapers, he was an absolute threat. It didn't help that despite everything, he was the least tired and worn down of the bunch. A good amount of that probably related to the fact that he was a Krogan. Naturally more aggressive than the other races, Dezor fought fiercely, like every battle was his last. Dezor could only be described as absolute warrior in the way his tactical approach to combat aided his team, a lion on the hunt, but not for prey, for survival.

A loud cackle over the radio distracted Javar and Dezor, who decided to split up with Phaes and Dom earlier to cover more ground. It had worked well so far, though each team had more than their fair share of close calls.

"Yeah?" Javar asked.

"Jav...eed help...eaper brut...xtraction needed...inic out..."

"Shit, what's wrong with this thing?" Javar asked, hitting his helmet, before letting loose a long exhale. "They're in trouble. We've got to move." He said, turning to Dezor, an almost conflicted expression on Javar's face, barely visible through his helmet stained with cannibal blood and dents from the damage he'd taken.

"So move." Dezor shot back, shoving a new thermal clip into his shotgun and jogging towards the exit of the building they had been in. They were in a small downstairs section, which had a staircase leading up to the main area across from where they'd landed. Cannibal corpses littered the ground, and although it had been a devastating fight so far, they were getting their job done, and that left Dezor satisfied.

Javar sighed. He, on the other hand, didn't like to get optimistic in the heat of the battle, instead opting to call it a success only when the mission was finished. Making matters worse, the Krogan liked to forget that the rest of them weren't as combat ready as him, and did need to catch their breath every now and then, or else they couldn't fight at their best.

"Move your ass!" Dezor shouted as he reached the doorway. Reluctantly, Javar loaded a new thermal clip into his assault rifle and followed, his legs dragging with each step.

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Dominic and Phaes made an exceptional team, balancing each other out perfectly. It was a shame they were learning that as the battle waged on, and as they got more and more tired, instead of in more ideal conditions.

The Salarian fought relentlessly, but stayed towards the back of the open battlefield with his sniper rifle. When the Reapers got close, he would quickly pull out his high-powered pistol and kill them almost instantly with a shot straight through their head. Despite the fact that his aim was deadly, his rapid firing rate couldn't keep up with the outnumbering Reaper forces.

And that's where Dom fit in.

Preferring to get up close and personal, Dom sported heavy customized armor that allowed more versatility with maneuvering at the cost of easier penetration. Though his armor was a crsip white, it often got a fresh coat of red on every mission. He struck hard and fast with his large machine gun, mowing down the Reaper forces, and when his excess of ammo ran dry, he wasn't afraid to get directly in the faces of his adversaries, slamming the end of his gun into their faces, then jamming his omni blade right down their throats. He was completely drenched in cannibal blood, and had taken more than a few bad shots, but he kept coming.

"Did you get through to them?" Phaes shouted from behind the small fighter ship right in front of the landing zone. Advancing cannibals drew his attention. He brought up his sniper rifle, locking them into the sights.

Suddenly, the gut-wrenching scream of a banshee echoed throughout all of the firebase, momentarily distracting all of the Special Forces. Banshees were horrible news under any conditions, but when they came with an onslaught of cannibals, all hell was guaranteed to break loose.

"Shit, I hope so." Dominic responded, retreating back down towards Phaes from a spot up some stairs to the right.

Aside from the advancing cannibal troops, there was no sign of the banshee, which concerned Phaes. Dominic, short of breath, reached Phaes and fell to a knee, wiping off some of the blood that coated his helmet and blurred his field of vision.

Slowly, an approaching mass of at least a dozen cannibals, another dozen husks, and a large banshee smack in the middle, emerged from the top entrance to the facility, across from Phaes and Dom.

"Oh shit..." Dom said, staring at the advancing hoard. He was tired and beat, he kept pushing forward but there was only so much one man could take, and he had a bad feeling he was dangerously close to that limit.

"Major Jush to Helmsman Logan! We need immediate extraction! Reaper forces are overwhelming us! Requesting immediate emergency extraction!" Phaes shouted into his communicator, a hint of desperation present in his tone.

"Why isn't he responding?" Dom yelled, staring at the approaching Reaper army, they were getting dangerously close, this was almost sure to be the end of them if a miracle didn't happen.

"Communications scrambler, maybe. That or...he abandoned us." Phaes stated blankly, the only two realistic possibilities, and with each footstep that the Reapers made, drawing closer, the latter seemed more and more the probable scenario.

"Take this!"

The loud roar of a Krogan could never be misidentified, and nothing held more true in that moment for Phaes and Dom. From the back of the horde, Dezor charged straight through them, knocking most of the Reaper forces down and charging right into the banshee, sending her crashing to the ground. He rolled down the stairs as he ran out of momentum, but was quickly back on his feet, pushing himself up, grabbing his gun, and turning all in one swift, agile motion.

Javar wasn't far behind, though instead of charging straight through the pack, he opted to take cover behind them and pick off the stragglers. His rifle provided controlled bursts of fire, easily finishing off the cannibals and husks.

Once the banshee regained stability though, and clearly set her sights on Javar, hanging back suddenly seemed like a bad idea. She charged forward, and Javar dove off the side of the elevated entrance to the building he was on. There was a ladder he could've used, but she was right behind him. He hit the ground hard, and immediately turned left, running towards his squad mates.

A loud roar sent him crashing to the ground yet again, and he turned to see not only a banshee hot on his trail, but a brute! All four of his eyes widened, and he scrambled to get up, grabbing his gun and running towards the team. A shuttle was visible in the distance, he prayed it was the extraction shuttle. He raised his rifle and fired several shots as he ran, barely reaching his team as he slid into cover.

"That's a big son of a bitch! Do we try to take it down?" Javar asked, slamming a new thermal clip into his rifle.

"The shuttle's almost here, we have to retreat, this base is overrun!" Phaes shouted, clearly wanting to get everyone out alive. Although the safety of his crew wasn't his priority, he did think realistically in these situations, and knew it was their only chance.

"We can take them!" Dezor roared in a fierce yell of determination, just prior to peeking out from cover. The banshee and brute were dangerously close now, but Dezor had faith, not only in himself, but the squad. Perhaps too much, Phaes thought he was setting his expectations far too high.

The shuttle opened its doors, though at least a good few feet from the railing that was on the edge of the landing zone, the only thing between the railing and the shuttle was a drop that would probably kill them.

"Retreat!" Phaes said, his mind made up. He turned and ran straight at the shuttle, jumping and putting a foot onto the railing, propelling himself into the shuttle with what looked like relative ease.

Javar didn't waste any time following Phaes, this mission had gone to hell completely, the Reapers were just too many, and their forces were relentless. Even if they stayed, it would still be a mission failed, except with the loss of their lives. There was no way he was giving up his life to a mission that had already failed, he jumped into the shuttle and began providing cover fire for his teammates, trying to buy them time for them to make it onto the shuttle.

"Go! I'll cover you!" Dom shouted at Dezor, firing at the brute and banshee, now only several feet away. His machine gun, as powerful and hard hitting as it was, hardly made a dent in either of them, causing Dom to became more and more frustrated over the next few seconds.

"No! I will not abandon our mission! Fight!" Dezor shouted, raising up out of cover and firing several shots from his shotgun, his determination was admirable, but deep down he knew he had to retreat. He felt like doing so was admitting defeat to the Reapers, though, and just like he'd been taught as a child, no foe is not worth the fight.

"We're screwed! Come on, move your ass, Dezor!" Dom retorted loudly, annoyed at the Krogan's stubbornness. Dom quickly ran towards the shuttle, leaping into it and landing harshly, his stomach pounding into the edge as he grasped for a way to pull himself up. Javar glanced at him, but returned to firing his gun. Phaes quickly moved over to help him up.

"Damn it!" Dezor shouted, firing one last shot at the banshee and brute, dangerously close, now only about a foot away. He charged towards the shuttle, leaping onto the railing and diving towards it. Both Phaes and Dom put their hands out, catching him as he landed half way in the shuttle. He managed to pull himself up, but the banshee appeared just outside of the shuttle, screeching into it with a horrifying volume. It was the loudest, most terrifying thing any of them had ever heard.

"Die, you ugly bitch!" Dezor shouted, raising his shotgun and firing a shot point blank into her face. Her head came apart seamlessly, blowing chunks of her brain all over, showering the shuttle with it, her lifeless corpse falling down into the depths below.

"Let's move!" Phaes shouted to the helmsman.

The shuttle began taking off, but just as it got , the brute leapt off the ground and crashed into the front of the shuttle, shattering the windshield, crushing the pilot, and mangling the front of the shuttle. It suddenly began spinning out of control as it went down, a pitch black smoke emitting from the engine. The brute screamed, and slammed his fists into the shuttle, causing it to go down even faster.

It landed harshly, upside down, and them tumbled down the mountain at least a dozen times before coming to a halt, the snow and lack of momentum slowed it considerably, but the wreckage was a complete nightmare, and there were bodies scattered everywhere.


	3. Frigid Wastelands

**Author's Note: **_Things just went from bad to worse, so we'll see what happens to the team in this chapter. This was interesting to write, I had to start showing the contrasting personalities of the characters and make them go a little deeper than just "soldiers" so let me know how I did!_

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 3: Frigid Wastelands

Small specks of snow greeted Dom, stinging the flesh of his exposed face with the bitter cold as he slowly began to regain consciousness. His eyes opened gradually, the harsh wind and blowing snow forcing him to close them almost immediately. He let loose a small groan as he came to, no idea what had happened, but his head was throbbing, he couldn't feel his legs, and there was something trickling down the side of his head. Melting snow? Blood? God knows what. He felt like a train had not only hit him, but ran him off the side of a cliff and plunged him to the bottom.

Turns out, that was uncomfortably close to what happened.

As he slowly pushed his gloved hands into the snow, which he found much deeper than he'd anticipated, he took in his surroundings. His vision was slightly blurred, but could make out a smoking vehicle, a body, no, make that two bodies, and a large object half buried in the snow.

"Hmph. About time one of you idiots woke up. Here."

Dezor's deep, booming voice startled Dominic, who turned and jolted away, half expecting to find someone pointing a gun at him, but only a hand, offering to help him up. Dominic reluctantly accepted, and once he got to his feet, glanced around for a better view. His eyes widened at the large object that was stuck in the snow: the brute that had tackled their shuttle. Its body was impaled by a twisted part of the shuttle that had come apart and formed a tip at one end large and long enough to penetrate the heavy hitting reaper completely.

"Takes care of that problem, at least." Dominic remarked, a half smirk forming.

"Leave it to a human to get sarcastic in the worst damn situations." Dezor grunted, moving to Phaes and Javar, who were laying right next to each other. They seemed to be in one piece, but weren't showing any signs of life. There was a small amount of blood next to Javar, though nobody could tell if it was the Brute's, or his.

They had crash landed on a relatively flat, small area of the mountain. Though it looked like it would be alright to travel, it certainly wasn't favorable, they had no idea how far they'd fall down, and a blizzard was definitely coming in quick. Making matters worse, the sunlight was dimming, limiting the time they could travel.

"Hey, Phaes! Javar! Can you hear me?" Dominic asked, kneeling next to their bodies and looking them over. He slowly turned the Salarian Major onto his back. "Major!"

"Move, human!" Dezor shouted, shoving Dom aside. "Wake up!" The Krogan roared in an unnecessarily loud voice at the Salarian. Startled, he jumped up and pulled his pistol from its holster, aiming at the two other Special Forces troops, lowering it once he realized it was them.

"What...what happened here?" Phaes asked, slowly getting to his feet, moving with a small limp towards them. "How long have we been out?" He inquired, staring first at Dom, then turning his gaze to Dezor.

"Human woke up about 15 minutes after me. You, maybe 5 minutes after him. It hasn't been long, the shuttle's still smoking. Half an hour, tops." Dezor reported, though he did so in a disgruntled tone, moving towards the shuttle.

"Hey, are you alive in there?" Dezor asked, glancing into the wreckage. The door was completely torn apart in the wreckage, several feet from the shuttle, and it was hard to find anything intact.

Dezor sunk to his knees, and glanced into the upside-down shuttle, slowly climbing into it, avoiding the smoke the best he could. He managed to pry open what was left of the cockpit door, and glanced around, only to see the corpse of the pilot staring at him, a large piece of the windshield glass impaling him through his stomach. Dezor gave a small sigh.

"He's dead."

"Javar!" Phaes shouted, moving to his fallen teammate. He slowly helped the Batarian up, a small amount of blood trickling into the snow from a large hole in his armor. Phaes glanced at the puncture and looked to Dominic.

"He's hit."

"I'm right here, I can stand, I'm fine." Javar said, tearing himself away from Phaes and looking at the rest of his team, agitated.

"Here, use this." Dominic said, moving towards the Batarian, offering a small container of medi gel. Javar stared at it in disgust, then looked up at Dominic, insulted.

"I don't need your petty offering, human. I'm fine!" The Batarian repeated, firing his words this time dead and alone at Dominic.

"Christ, Javar, calm down, I was just offering." Retorted the Human, tucking the medi gel away.

"Damn it. Communications are down, I can't get any sort of distress beacon away, or reach anyone on my omni tool." Phaes informed the team, frustrated.

"You'd figure they'd at least realize the shuttle's not back and send another." Dezor added, trying to be optimistic, as optimistic as a Krogan could be, anyways.

"So, now what?" Dominic asked, glancing around at the three other team members.

"We should move to the west. There's another facility there. Possibly abandoned, but maybe we can at least get a signal up. 3 miles, if we hurry we can make it before dusk." Phaes said, bringing up a crude mapping of the facility. Noveria maps were always changing, the snow shifted and avalanches often covered facilities completely, so nobody could ever sure anything was even around anymore.

"And if the facility's abandoned, or covered in an avalanche? What then, Salarian?" Javar snapped in a crude, pessimistic tone.

"What the hell's with you, man?" Dominic retorted, before Phaes could get a chance to respond. "You've got this damn "we're all screwed!" attitude and the rest of us are trying to get back on track."

"So self righteous, righteous enough to justify destroying a whole-"

"Don't even start with that shit, man!" Dominic said, holding up a hand towards Javar, already knowing what he was getting ready to say. "Look, I know losing your family and friends is hard, heart breaking, but we're in the middle of a war, Shepard made the call to destroy that system because it was that, or the whole galaxy!" Dominic shouted, shaking his head. "Open your eyes."

Javar restrained himself from making another comment, instead just scoffing and turning his gaze downward towards the ground. Dominic moved up to Phaes, and nodded as they began the trek towards the facility.

Dezor slowly came up behind Javar, glancing at him.

"Human's blunt. Arrogant. But he's got a point." He spoke, before falling in line behind Dominic.

Javar stood a moment, thinking. Remembering his family, his wife, who he'd just gotten married to. She'd begged him not to go on his next mission, but he did. Just one of many regrets harboring deep in him. He wished so badly he'd stayed with her, at least they'd be together. After the Bahak system had been destroyed, he quit the military and moped around the Citadel, drowning his sorrows in a new bar every night until he got kicked out for starting a fight, or mouthing off to the wrong person.

He'd eventually decided to rejoin the military, but this time in the Special Forces Task Group. As much as it pained him to admit it, he could unwillingly see why Shepard had destroyed the Bahak system. Coming to terms with it and admitting it was the right call, however, was just impossible at this point. But at least with Special Forces, he fought what was currently threatening other families, he figured if he could save other Batarian systems from going through what he did, he was making his life worth something again.

But it all still felt so worthless with all but one member of his family dead.

He picked up his assault rifle from the snow and looked it over, a small amount of his blood had dripped onto it, giving it a crude, dissimilar stain. Strangely enough, his wound didn't hurt, he hardly felt anything anymore. Slamming a new thermal clip into his gun, he glanced at his team, slowly disappearing in the distance. For a moment, he considered not following them, finding his own way out. Maybe they'd all die, he could be the hero, get some public exposure, and show his hurt, show how wrong Shepard had been to destroy...

There were the thoughts again, the thoughts that clouded his judgment so much. It was so hard to disregard his family and see it from Shepard's point of view.

Maybe he could one day, but for now, he had a duty, and he wasn't one to not see a mission through. His thoughts of abandoning his team were just that, thoughts. Even if that was denial, and he really did want to leave them, he couldn't. He jogged towards them, ready to get the hell off this frozen world.

Memories could bring the worst pain imaginable.


	4. Stranded

**Author's Note:** _Welcome back to The Black Aegis! The plot starts to pick up in this chapter, there's a few things that will rail up the tensity, and hopefully a few things you aren't expecting! As always, let me know what you love/hate about this chapter and the story in general, thanks for reading!_

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 4: Stranded

"God damn, it's freezing." Dom stated, putting what everyone's thoughts were into an audible form. The four trekked along the ridge of the mountain, they had to have been walking for at least an hour and a half, maybe more. There was a building of some sort in the distance, they'd decided even if it was abandoned, they would take refuge there, they were tired, bruised, injured, and hardly conscious.

Well, except for Dezor of course, he was what the humans would call "winded", meaning he could go for a rest, but he could fight, shoot, attack, and do what needs to be done at any given moment, hence his lead on the other 3, which was at least 6 feet.

Tilting his head back, he gave a small chuckle, "Do all you humans like to state the obvious, or do you just like to hear yourself talk? Pick up the pace, we're almost there!" He shouted, beginning a small jog, the facility was fairly close now, though hardly visible through the harsh snowstorm.

"It better have heating, that's all I've got to say." Javar added, Batarians hated the cold more so than most species, and Javar was no exception, and the rupture in his armor made keeping warm all the more challenging.

"Likely, I'd guess it's a remote research facility. Even if it is abandoned, they'd have a generator." Phaes replied, before joining Dezor and Dom in the jogging. Javar sighed, and reluctantly began jogging, too.

As they reached the facility, all four of them slowly came to a stop. In front of them was a semi-high wall ending with railing at the top, serving as a landing pad for shuttles., though it looked like this base hadn't seen many visitors recently. On the other side was a door to get into the facility. It was hard to tell if anyone was inside, but either way, they knew they needed a way up, that took priority.

"Alright, boost me up, and..." Dezor started, before noticing the others taking a step back. "What?"

"Boost you up?" Dom asked with a small laugh at the end. "You gotta be loco, man, there's no way we're boosting your half ton ass up there. The Salarian's our best bet."

Dezor grunted, before turning around and cupping his hands. "Come on, Phaes, get over here."

Phaes pulled his pistol from its holster and inserted a new thermal clip, nodding to Dezor. "Alright."

Phaes planted a foot firmly into the Krogan's hands, and quickly ascended to the railing, where he wrapped one hand around the base of it, and glanced around, looking for any danger, his pistol at the ready. After deciding there didn't appear to be any immediate threats, he climbed up and over the railing, briskly bringing his gun back up and scanning over the landing area. There were a few scattered crates, and what looked like a terminal, otherwise, it seemed void of life.

"Alright, we're clear...we're clear." Phaes said, stealing one last glance around before dropping to his stomach and poking his head and one arm out from under the railing. "Send someone up!"

"Human, go." Dezor stated.

Dom quickly put his foot into the Krogan's hands and was lifted up, where he gripped Phaes's hand, and used the other to grab the railing and hop over. Javar quickly followed, and the three tossed the crates over the side of the railing, creating a few steps for Dezor to use to get him up. Once he was over the railing, the four took a moment to catch their breath.

"What do you think's in there?" Dom asked, glancing towards the entrance to the facility. There were a few large windows, but they appeared black, and were impossible to see in. The entire facility seemed to be relatively small, but they only had the view from one side.

"Shit, probably abandoned." Javar uttered, shaking his head. His helmet rattled slightly, indicating it took quite a beating from the crash. The shield on it was partially cracked as well, but it held together well.

"Maybe.." Dom replied, slowly approaching the door, hesitant.

He shook his head. The sensors should've picked him up and opened. He kicked the door in frustration. "Damn it!"

A loud crash quickly grabbed everyone's attention, and they turned to see Dezor holding his smoking shotgun, and one of the large windows completely shattered.

"Problem solved." He said in a sarcastic tone, shaking his head at how most other species would rather complain about a problem then actually set out to fix it. The same could, of course, be said for his own and the genophage, but with the rumors circulating the galaxy lately of Shepard, Wrex, and a cure, maybe that wouldn't end up being so true after all.

As they stepped through the shattered window and into the hallway it led into, they took in their surroundings. The first thing that caught the team's eye was a corpse on the far side of the room. Phaes jogged toward it and knelt next to it, turning the body so it was face up.

"Salarian. Male. He died from several gunshots to the chest." Phaes informed the others, surveying the body. The precision and attention he was giving the corpse made him appear like a seasoned forensic detective, looking for any hidden marks or wounds.

"What difference does it make?" Dezor asked, shrugging. "He could've been dead for-"

"I'd say 12 hours, maximum." Phaes said, interrupting the Krogan.

Dezor growled a little bit, he wasn't a fan of being wrong.

"Even so, the people who killed him could be long gone." Dom said, sitting down on one of the seats in the small hallway. God it felt good to sit down, even knowing it wouldn't be for long.

"Possible, yes. They could also still be here, maybe they eliminated all the scientists for a reason." Phaes interjected, slowly standing up. "Either way, best to keep moving, we need to find a communications channel."

A door opposite the one leading outside opened, seemingly on its own. Dom quickly drew his gun and aimed it inside, but there was nobody to be found, only a small room that had another door about a dozen feet into it.

"Looks empty...come on, this is the only way through." He said, holstering his machine gun and moving inside. The rest of the Special Forces group followed.

The door closed behind them, and suddenly lights inside the small room turned on, illuminating their surroundings with a consistent pulse of white. There was the door directly in front of them, and foliage in small containers on either side of them.

"Equalizing exterior pressure with interior atmosphere. Please wait..." A VI's voice announced.

"I guess the power's back on." Javar said, thinking out loud.

"Nice of you to rejoin us." Dom said, smirking at the Batarian.

Javar growled, a strict and direct aggression more than evident in his tone."Watch it, human. Don't think I haven't thought about ending this right now."

Dom's expression changed to one of offended. "Easy there, pal, I was joking, damn."

"I'm sure everything's a joke to you, human. Did you even consider-"

"Enough." Dezor sighed, annoyed at the bickering between the two. As far as he was concerned, they could kill each other, but only after they had gotten the hell off this frozen world.

"Pressure equalized. Engaging airlock." The VI announced, and the door across from the one they'd entered opened. All four of them slowly moved into the next area, which appeared to be some sort of lobby, there was a desk, several seat, a few crates, and a couple of terminals. Hallways on opposite ends of the lobby suggested they stood in the central hub of the entire base.

The lobby itself was eerily empty, and something gave the team an odd, unfamiliar vibe. There were no logos on the walls, or anything to identify who or what owned the facility, and the fact that nobody was present made it seem intangibly forbidden. The lobby painted a convincingly normal appearance, save for being void of any life.

Everyone began removing their helmets, no longer necessary to breathe or protect themselves from the snow. The whole team looked like hell, but Javar definitely looked the worst, several cuts and bruises littered his face, one dangerously close to his top right eye. He also had a scar running from the bottom corner of his top right eye to the top edge of his bottom left eye, indicating he'd had a dangerously close encounter before.

Dom, who had dark, tan skin and appeared to be around 35, glanced at the scar. "How's that happen?" He asked, curiously, testing the Batarian, as he ran a hand through his medium-length black hair, which was soaked with a combination of sweat and melted snow, pushing it out of his face

"Do you really-" Javar started, angrily, but sighed. "Nothing. A fight."

"With who?" Dom replied.

"Nobody." Javar fired back in an irritated tone, he was annoyed at the human's phony friend act, they were soldiers, nothing more. It just so happened they were on the same side, and that was all that stood between him and the human brawling.

"Are you girls still bickering? Hmph. If you were Krogan, this would've been settled by now and one of you would be dead." Dezor inserted. A stare from Phaes caused him to tilt his head. "What? Just saying how it would be."

Dezor shook off the other species not understanding how to resolve a simple conflict, it confused him, but he could almost see their side of view, almost. He slowly ran a hand over his dim green hide, tracing a finger down a long scar running the length of his face on the right side, it was faded, but always present. He'd gotten it in a fierce fight with a genetically modified Varren, that was a hell of a battle, the Varren had upgrades Dezor couldn't believe, and one of its teeth hooked him good in the face and carved the scar into his flesh. He eventually killed the Varren, and proceeded to keep what was left of the corpse. Not as a battle trophy like many Krogan would, but rather, study. Dezor, while a powerhouse on the battlefield, also had a strong affinity for science, and though he was little more than advanced with his knowledge, he was able to implant an upgrade into his armor that was based off some of the tech from the Varren.

Everything had its uses.

Phaes wasn't quite as resourceful as Dezor, nor did he have any flickering of interest in science. Rather, he excelled at one thing: being tactical. Underneath his light green skin, which turned into a dim yellow at his neck, he was just a regular Salarian. He wasn't fit for Special Tasks or STG, his aim was deadly, though that only got him so far. He wasn't more physically fit or stronger than your average Salarian. No, what got him through 3 years with STG and a year with Special Forces so far, was one thing: His mind.

Being tactical came naturally to Phaes, during school, in competitive games his team usually won, not because of larger numbers or stronger/faster people, but because he was able to plan both ahead and around the challenge. He was quick, clever, and knew how to handle himself. But in the situation at hand, possibly stranded in some abandoned research facility, he found himself in unfamiliar territory, and wasn't reacting the greatest. Hints of paranoia were already starting to itch at him. He didn't know what to do, what if they were lost here forever?

No, he had to keep his cool, stay logical, there's always a way out, and he intended to find it and get his team out alive.

Dom tended to be more optimistic in extreme situations, and he was no stranger to them. In the last year, he'd been nearly killed twice on Special Forces missions, where reckless leadership from his superiors had forced him to make calls most soldiers couldn't, such as saving himself or trying to save the rest of his dying unit. More than once, his physical and mental endurance had been put to the test, but he came out of it mostly sane. Despite his mission history, which was not only extensive, but impressive, he lacked any real form of recognition from the Alliance, so he'd made the conscious decision to move to Special Forces about a year ago. Now, though, it wasn't about recognition or fame, it was about survival. He was a battle worn soldier, and didn't care about having little notice of himself from others, he just wanted a home to go back to.

Javar felt quite the opposite. Having lost his home when the Bahak System had been obliterated, he'd been attempting to drink himself to death in various Citadel bars, and engaging in illegal drug use. It was the only thing that helped him through the pain of losing his entire family, save for his sister. It took him almost half of a year, but he finally sobered up and managed to piece back a small portion of his life bit by bit.

He knew a return to the military was inevitable, and without a doubt what he was best at, lacking any other skills or beneficial talents. Aiming a gun at other people and spilling blood was all he knew how to do, and he was damn good at it. However, the Batarian Military was too idealistic and tactical for him. He needed to be right in the action, feeling the tensity and aggression, it was far beyond a craving, he needed it. As such, Special Forces was easily the best choice for him, and had got him into the situations he'd wanted, and even more, nearly killing him multiple times. It was like an alarm clock counting down the moments you have left, each one viciously aching to be your last. Despite his reckless demeanor and aggressive appearance, he didn't want to die, he just had the worst time coping with what had happened, and the military lifestyle acted as something for him to focus on instead.

"What are you boys going to do when we get out of here?" Dom queried aloud, breaking the constricting silence that had held them hostage since Dezor mocked the Human and Batarian. It wasn't like they knew anything about each other, they were strangers, strangers who's mission went to hell and were stranded in some facility on Noveria, the only common ground they could seem to find with each other.

"You mean if?" Javar retorted quickly, it wasn't clear if he was naturally pessimistic or just bearing a poor attitude towards the human.

"Well...they can't just abandon us here. We had a mission." Dom replied in an optimistic tone.

"Wrong. The STG often refused to send out search parties for lost squads, in fear of attracting attention, they were marked as MIA, then when things died down, they sent out a search party. If they were found, they were updated to KIA, but nobody was paying attention anymore, the change went unnoticed." Phaes said, moving to sit down on one of the seats nearby.

"This isn't STG. You Salarians handle things too precisely and get caught up in the details," Dezor began, "better to get in, get a first hand look, then plan from there, you can still be tactical."

"But you lose the advantage of surprise." Dom inserted

"And gain the advantage of knowing exactly what you're up against. Reports and vids can create an illusion of what a situation is, but you don't know what it is until you're there, any plan can fail. Any one." Dezor stated matter-of-factly.

"Easy for a Krogan to say, you've got the size, and the power." Javar stated in quick response.

"Every species has its strengths and weaknesses, no use in debating it. Different tactics work for different species. Now, why are we sitting here? We need to try those terminals." Phaes rattled off, the way he jumped from topic to topic was insane, and fascinating. All Salarians did so, they processed emotions faster than other species, more often then not becoming evident in regular conversation.

"Be my guest." Dezor stated blankly, shifting his position to indicate he wasn't moving.

"Dick." Dom stated, shaking his head before nodding to Phaes. "Let's go." He said, before moving with the Salarian over to one of the terminals on the far side of the room.


	5. Isthmus

**Author's Note:** _A longer chapter here, but plenty of action and banter between characters. Let me know what you think!_

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 5: Isthmus

"Any luck?" Javar asked from across the room, much like the Krogan, Javar had opted to stay seated instead of going to assist with the communications terminal.

"Why don't you get off your ass and come find out?" Dom countered in a voice above a whisper, his question heavily seasoned with sarcasm. Apparently Javar both heard him, and took him literally, as he quickly stood up and began marching towards Dom, but Dezor stuck a hand out, stopping the Batarian in his tracks.

"Enough. How's it coming?" Dezor asked bluntly.

"Not well. Communications can't even be set up locally. I'm guessing there's a communications scrambler in this facility." Phaes replied, his fingers moving swiftly over the holo controls.

"A scrambler? That could stop us even all the way back at the wreck?" Javar asked, slowly moving to sit back down.

"Possibly. That could've also just been bad weather. Either way, we can't get communications here, we need to find and eliminate the scrambler." Phaes stated firmly, turning and looking at his teammates.

"Ever stop being so professional?" Dom asked randomly.

Phaes turned to him, a confused expression on his face, "Professional?"

"You're direct. Firm. No beating around the bush. But how are you when you're not working?"

"The Reapers are here. My work doesn't end until they're defeated, and neither should yours." Phaes replied explicitly, grabbing his sniper rifle from the ground and nodding. "Ready to move?"

"Let's do it." Dezor acknowledged, grabbing his shotgun, and following the Salarian.

The group moved into the hallway to their right, weapons at the ready, expecting opposition. As they rounded the corner, they raised their guns and glanced around. There was a narrow hallway in front of them that ended in another door, a window running the length of the hall, covering the wall to their right let them see outside. They were passing over an area high above the ground below, it was quite the drop drown.

Javar moved up, holding his rifle directly in front of him as he approached the door. A series of gunshots seeming to come from behind the door caused them all to tense up. A few moments of silence passed, before another round of gunshots, and distant, but audible, voices.

"Shit, there's someone there. Armed." Dom said aloud.

"Scared?" Javar asked, taunting the human.

"Not scared. Aware." Dom replied firmly.

Javar opted to move towards the door, instead of retorting to the human. The door's proximity sensor picked him up and opened, and revealed another room similar to the lobby they were in before, except larger, and housing flipped over desks being used as makeshift cover by a Turian, who was being shot at by a small group of 3 Cerberus troops.

"Cover!" Javar shouted, sliding down to duck behind a waist-high wall leading into a reception office. Dom quickly followed, stacking up behind Javar. Dezor moved to charge towards the Cerberus troops and take cover behind some plants in a medium-sized container in the middle of the room, bullets whizzing into him as he did so, being absorbed into his shields.

The three, along with the Turian, provided cover fire the best they could, but the Cerberus troops had superior position with a long wall running adjacent to the group, giving them a strong amount of cover. Suddenly, a vent cover above their position came clattering to the ground. As they looked up, three successive shots killed one of them directly, and the other two ran out into the open, trying to escape whoever came out of the vent.

As the two Cerberus troops moved out into the open, Dezor seized the opportunity, raising his shotgun and firing a powerful shot that ripped right through one of their armor, and tore his right arm completely off, blood showering over the area. Dezor roared loudly, and then charged forward, slamming into the injured Cerberus soldier and sending him flying into a wall directly behind him, snapping his neck as he crashed into it, making a sickeningly loud snap as it did so.

Dom and Javar popped out of cover and opened fire on the remaining Cerberus troop, both seemed to be locked in some petty contest, seeing who could kill him first, but the shower of bullets into his chest caused him to drop only a few seconds after they began.

Phaes emerged from behind the wall, and nodded to his team.

"Crafty son of a bitch. How'd you get into the vents?" Dom asked, holstering his weapon and walking with Javar to regroup with the team.

"I noticed one in the hallway. I've been on many infiltration missions, I knew there had to be at least one in this room. I figured at the least it would serve as a distraction, it was luck that it came out right into their cover position." Phaes said, his voice holding a small hint of pride, he always enjoyed outmaneuvering his enemies.

Suddenly, the Turian popped out of cover, waving his gun around. "Is it safe?" He asked, his voice shaking with anxiety.

Everyone pulled their guns from their holsters and aimed them at the Turian.

"Oh shit...I almost forgot about our friend over there." Dom said out loud.

"Who are you?" Javar asked the Turian firmly.

The Turian appeared to be of some army or military, his armor was too degraded to tell if it had any insignia or emblem, and looked like it had been through hell. He was wielding a high-powered pistol, and his skin color was noticeably darker than most Turians, appearing very dark with white face paint highlighting a somewhat menacing appearance.

Slowly, the Turian lowered his gun and sighed. "I'm Lyvan. Lyvan Torche. I'm sorry for the hostility, I've just, I've been through a lot, my brother was killed by these Cerberus bastards a few days ago."

"Do you work here? What's with the armor?" Dom asked, keeping his gun trained on Lyvan. The last thing they needed was to be trusting a covert operative, or an indoctrinated.

"Work here? No. My brother and I, we...we fled here after they hit the base we worked at and lived on. Alpha Base. About 50 miles east of here. It's a military base. I'm not military, though. I was just a dock worker. The Reapers hit hard and fast, and my brother and I fled in a military shuttle. Ran out of fuel a few days ago, and found this place. We thought it was abandoned...but we were wrong. They got my brother a few days ago, I've been hiding out and trying to escape since." His voice was slightly less shaky, exchanging it for a small amount of hope in his tone.

Dom sighed before lowering his gun, the rest of the Special Forces group slowly following.

"What do you know about this base?" Phaes asked, holstering his weapon.

"I don't, I've been in a closet for the last 36 hours. I had to get some food, but they caught me, that's when you guys came in." Lyvan responded.

The Special Forces group glanced at each other, seeming to ask each other what they wanted to do.

"You can stick with us, but try anything funny and you're on your own." Dezor said, inserting a new thermal clip into his shotgun.

Lyvan nodded. "Don't worry, I just want off this damn ice world."

The group moved over to a door behind the wall Cerberus had used for cover, stepping over their corpses and passing the blood stained walls. As they came to the door, a scanner appeared and, after a moment, a small beep was heard.

"Unknown persons. Access to labs is restricted. Password?" The VI asked.

Dezor grunted, and planted a foot firmly in the groud, before charging forward and breaking the door in half, shattering it and sending pieces flying everywhere as he crashed through to the other side.

"Jesus fucking Christ..." Dom said, holding a hand up to shield him from any rubble that had backfired towards him. "How about a warning next time?"

"He doesn't need one, he's a Krogan." Lyvan commented, chuckling to himself.

As they all moved into the next area, they glanced around. The lab area was small, but seemed to be all that was necessary. There was one door on the opposite side of the room, serving as the only exit. Certainly not hurting for equipment, the lab seemed to have extensive medical accessories and gear. There were several gurneys arranged around the room, hooked up to various medical equipment and computers. Two of the gurneys in the room were occupied, both humans.

The group approached them at a slow pace, caution preceding curiosity. The bodies looked dead, and heavily operated on, their eyes were glowing some sort of blue, and their neck was tainted a heavy black that bled up onto their face, with lines of black that appeared to come from under their skin extending up through their eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with them?" Lyvan asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I don't know. Cerberus must have done this, who else is here?" Phaes asked.

"Cerberus has always been pro humanity, though. This...this is screwed up." Dom replied, his tone doubtful.

"Guess your guardian angel Cerberus has joined the Reapers." Javar spouted in an impulsive, arrogant manner.

"Why don't you shut the hell up?" Dom asked, spinning around to stare at Javar directly in his eyes, only a few inches from his face.

"Break it up!" Dezor stated, moving in between them. "I swear, you two are like children."

Lyvan slowly brought his pistol up, and poked one of the human corpses. Suddenly, it darted up and let loose a loud screech, grabbing all of the team's attention.

"Damn!" Lyvan shouted, falling back in shock.

The rest of the group quickly raised their guns. The creature was secured to the table, but it was definitely awake. Its eyes darted around, moving to everyone before it, letting loose a loud screech again, and pulling against the restraints.

Javar hesitated, but fired a shot straight into the creature's head, killing it. Blueish blood splattered against the wall behind it. All fell silent for a moment.

"I don't know what the hell that was, but we know who he was before." Dezor stated, raising a finger and pointing to something laying on the floor beside the gurney. The group slowly moved closer, looking at it. It was hard to make out, but it was a burned, half destroyed piece of Special Forces issued armor.

"Oh shit...the lost team the pilot mentioned," Dom started, "this...this is them."

"Half. Special forces teams are almost always in four. It's worth noting these are just the humans. Special Forces is interspecies. The fact that they're just human definitely hints at Cerberus. Perhaps the other-" Phaes was cut off by Dom.

"Would you stop with your analysis shit? These are people's lives, they're not some statistic. You don't always need to...I'm sorry." Dom said, letting loose a long sigh. "Whatever they did to these guys is pretty fucked up, but we can't stop. Let's move. Phaes, lead the way?"

Phaes nodded, he could understand why Dom was upset, seeing his people turned into those monsters, but if Cerberus is working with the Reapers, this was almost expected, it was happening to every other species.

Dom didn't care who had done it. Cerberus, the Reapers, both, or neither, he felt a tense, burning feeling in his chest, and he needed to make someone pay for it. He'd always had anger issues through his life, but this wasn't anger, it wasn't rage, it wasn't fury.

It was doubt.

For the first time since he'd started his military career, he felt doubt, and a small bit of fear to go with it. What the hell had been done to those men back there? Whatever had been done stirred a small amount of fear in him, and seeing that done, seeing what's possible, it filled him with a small amount of doubt, and a lot of hatred.

What if they couldn't win this war? What if the Reapers had this won by simply existing?

No, he couldn't think like that, that negative shit just made him feel worse about everything. He'd lay his life down and die with a tiny flicker of hope, rather than live with depression and sorrow.

He grabbed his machine gun and followed the group through a door on the far side of the lab, leading into the larger area, wanting to get the hell away from those corpses as quickly as possible. He hoped there was a few more Cerberus bastards waiting, he wanted some revenge.


	6. A Costly Assault

**Author's Note:** _Things really start picking up here, I think if you've read so far, you'll really enjoy this and it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. Let me know what you think!_

* * *

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 6: A Costly Assault

The team moved into the next room at a quicker, but more cautious pace. The room was bare overall, save for some spare lab equipment and a generator which was powering the entire building. Scattered datapads and an overturned table decorated the room somberly. Immediately to their right, there was a staircase going downstairs, appearing to be the only way out of the room. Dezor grunted, before moving first, leading the group down the stairs.

They came to some sort of morgue, there were bodies of people laying on gurneys and the floor. No body bags, nothing, just corpses on gurneys or piled onto the floor. It was sickening, and the stench was nothing short of absolutely putrid, nearly causing the team to regurgitate their last meal. Some bodies appeared to be heavily tampered with, similar to the Special Forces corpses they'd recently discovered. Others were missing parts of their body, and others still just appeared dead, no tampering.

"What the hell is this?" Dom asked, walking through the room slowly. His eyes widened and he turned his head as he saw what was laying next to another gurney; a child, 7 or 8 at the most, heavily modified, slumped over in a pool of dried blood. "I swear...-"

A door directly in front of Dom opened before he could finish, and a band of Cerberus soldiers appeared on the other side, weapons raised. Dom dove behind the gurney he was in front of, and the rest of the Special Forces group opened fire, dropping a couple of the Cerberus soldiers quickly.

Dezor threw a singularity directly in front of the Cerberus troops, pulling two into the air and letting them drift through the air in helpless suspension. He quickly brought up his shotgun and fired a shot into each of them, completely blowing them in half and sending their entrails showering over the room. Smiling at the result, he let loose a thunderous roar, he loved spilling blood, it satisfied something in him nothing else ever could.

Lyvan peeked out of cover and fired his pistol the best he could at the doorway, but his aim was poor, he was a civilian, after all, but even by those standards, he couldn't hit where he was aiming to save his life.

Dom popped out of cover and fired a burst of rounds from his machine gun, dropping another Cerberus operative who was distracted by the singularity. "You like that, you son of a bitch? Come on!"

Two smoke grenades were tossed into the doorway by Cerberus from the other side. Dom seized the opportunity to fall back and rejoin his squad as the smoke clouded their view.

"We don't know how many Cerberus troops there are. Perhaps we should fall back and draw them out..." Phaes said, sliding a new thermal clip into his pistol.

"No good, we take this bastards now!" Dezor shouted, gripping his shotgun with a deathly lock.

"No, I think-" Phaes started, before a rain of turret fire penetrated his shields and sent him to the floor. The rest of Special Forces dove into cover.

"Shit, hold on!" Dom shouted, popping out of cover momentarily and blind firing for several seconds towards the entrance.

"It's no good! Damn it, I'll do this the old fashioned way!" Dezor shouted over the turret fire, standing up out of cover and moving directly into the turret's line of fire. He grunted and charged forward, smashing the turret into millions of pieces.

He quickly aimed his shotgun to the right, firing a shot into a Cerberus assault trooper's head, blowing it off completely and sending chunks of his brain to coat the walls. The sickening sound of impact all that more appealing to him. Turning, he came face to face with another assault trooper firing directly into his face. He stumbled back, but growled, charging forward and slamming the end of his shotgun into the operative's helmet, shattering it and revealing his modified face. Dezor was taken aback at first, and quickly chose to fire a shotgun round into his leg, completely disabling him but leaving him intact.

The rest of Special Forces, and Lyvan, who was helping Phaes, moved into the next room. Phaes had taken a few shots to the chest area that penetrated his armor and shields, but he was alright. Not at his best anymore, but alright. He could still shoot, and that was what mattered. Dezor turned, and nodded.

Everything fell silent. The room they were in had a communications hub in the center, and appeared to be some sort of restricted access area. Desks lined the outside walls of the room, and a series of windows granted them access to see outside. The room was large, and the communications hub was defined by four central pillars in the middle of the room holding in a rectangle shape of desks with many computers, and two terminals in the center of the communications area.

Dezor moved to point to the Cerberus trooper he'd disabled.

"Look."

They all turned, and were taken aback to see him slowly inching towards his gun, his face darkened by Reaper or Cerberus modification. His eyes were glowing a hateful blue, and any hair he had was gone, completely engulfed by the black modification.

"They did the same thing to my people."

Everyone turned to Javar, who had remained silent for what seemed like an eternity.

"Took them, made them into their weapons, and forced them to do their work."

"Who?" Lyvan asked, "This is Cerberus."

"The Reapers," Javar started, "Cerberus is just a middleman, the Reapers are doing this, I assure you."

"If Cerberus can be indoctrinated..." Dezor stated, looking at the rest of the team.

"Then anyone can." Dom finished reluctantly, the truth was hard to bear, but seeing it firsthand made it much worse, so much so that he seemed to lose a lot of his hope in that very moment.

"Irrelevant. We already knew this. Seeing it can make it worse, but the Reapers have done this before." Phaes said, moving to stand on his own, pistol at his side. "It's just a lot worse now..."

Everyone sighed. That hated to admit it, but Phaes was right, from Saren, to the base on Virmire, to the husks, to the Collectors, the Reapers hadn't made their intent unknown, or their methods seem less extreme. They were ruthless, and absolutely thorough.

"There..." Phaes said, nodding to the communications center behind Dezor, in the middle of the room. "That's the communications scrambler. If you can give me a few minutes..." He said, limping to it and kneeling down at one of the terminals, beginning to tap the controls, "I can disable it."

"There! Intruders!"

A band Cerberus troops entered the room from a door the Special Forces group hadn't seen. Lyvan quickly fell back into the morgue. Javar, Dom, and Dezor took cover behind the large, sturdy tables that made up the central commutations area as the Cerberus troops opened a rain of gunfire onto them.

"Damn, they don't stop!" Dom shouted, popping up and firing a burst of his machine gun, dropping one of the troops.

Out of the large doorway where the Cerberus troops came in was a large rumbling, after a few moments, where it was coming from was made apparent. An Atlas slowly came into the room, barely fitting through the doorway.

"Shit, move!" Javar shouted, standing up and quickly trying to run to another cover spot. A Cerberus sniper spotted him and brought his rifle up in a swift motion, firing a shot directly into Javar's chest, penetrating him and sending him crashing into a table, his gun flying from his hand and clattering to the floor several feet from him.

"You take the troops, I've got the big boy!" Dezor shouted, diving across a small gap into more cover. The Atlas fired a missile that narrowly missed Dezor's cover spot, instead landing in the far wall, creating a decent sized hole.

"Come on you bastards!" Dom shouted, standing up and hip-firing his machine gun into the area next to the doorway that most of the Cerberus troops had chose to take cover in, a chest-high wall providing all the cover they needed.

Dezor blind fired his shotgun at the Atlas as quickly as he could. Now that he had its full attention, the only job was eliminating it. He scowled once his gun ran dry. Completely out of ammo, he tossed the shotgun to the ground and pulled out his pistol. The Atlas continued to rain down gunfire into his position with relentless force, and the wall he'd taken cover behind wasn't going to hold up much longer.

Dom's gun suddenly started to click, and no more shots were firing. He scowled, before darting back into cover as a hail of gunfire began surrounding him. He reloaded his gun as quickly as he could, but the constant gunfire from Cerberus made the lengthy reload process of his machine gun even slower, causing him to curse under his breath.

"Dom!" Phaes shouted from the other side of the communications center, sliding three grenades to him. "I'm almost done!" Phaes shouted, crawling back to his terminal and continuing to tap the controls. He was shielded by a large pillar directly behind him, protecting him from enemy fire.

Dom picked up the grenades, and exhaled deeply. "Eat this, you sons of bitches!" He shouted, coming out of cover and throwing them with enough force to land in the small area the Cerberus troops were taking cover in. As he did so, right after he'd released the grenades, a stray sniper shot landed in his lower right side, sending him flying back and crashing into the pillar protecting Phaes.

Dezor moved out of cover and began charging the Atlas, firing his pistol with rapid, successive shots, charging with the force of a mobile boulder. He crashed into it with lethal impact, making his head shake with pain. He growled, and charged again, slamming into the Atlas with all the force he could muster. The machine gun started malfunctioning, and that only gave him more reason, blood now spilling from his face and nose, he roared and charged again, slamming the Atlas into the wall and nearly collapsing it. Finally, a battered, and beaten Dezor growled, blood dripping from several deep gashes in his face from where he'd met the metal from the Cerberus Atlas. The Atlas's missile targeting system displayed a red dot right on Dezor's chest, and as he looked down and saw it, it only caused a menacing scowl to form on his lips. "I...am...Krogan!" He shouted, charging forward, expelling literally all of his remaining energy. As he did so, the Atlas fired its missile, colliding with Dezor just as he crashed into the Atlas, causing a giant explosion, resulting in a shower of blood, entrails, and metal, and creating a huge hole in the wall where some of the remnants of Dezor and the Atlas fell.

Simultaneously, Dom's grenades he'd thrown went off as they landed right at the Cerberus troop's feet, blowing the Cerberus troops to hell and sending blood and limbs slinging across the walls and floor, creating a giant shower of blood and severed body parts.

And then, there was nothing but silence.


	7. The Price Of Being A Soldier

**Author's Note:** _This chapter is where things get extremely interesting. Let me know what you think!_

* * *

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 7: The Price Of Being A Soldier

Javar awoke swiftly, and tried to stand up, only to have a sharp pain ripple through his chest. He gasped in pain. looking down to see a large puncture in his armor, and blood stains surrounding it. As his vision became less blurry, he saw Phaes moving towards him, and also took note of a giant hole in the wall diagonally to his left, grunting at he moved to sit up.

"Wh...what happened?" Javar asked, confused. Talking caused a small pain in his chest to rise.

"Hold still." Phaes said, pulling out a container of medi-gel and opening it. He placed a decent amount over the hole in Javar's armor. The gel seeped through and fell to Javar's clothing, and through the hole in that, into his wound. Quickly forming a protective layer over the skin and numbing the area, Javar slowly got to his feet and nodded.

"Thanks..." He said, glancing around the area.

At least 50% of the room was covered in blood or limbs, and gun dents and holes from explosions were the newest additions, and did they ever stand out. Dom was standing near the biggest hole in the wall, shaking his head. His wound had been bad, too, but not nearly as bad as Javar's, he was moving on his own without medi-gel for the moment, only with a slight limp added.

Lyvan was standing near the pillar, staring at Javar, who turned to face him, and chuckled.

"Where the hell were you during the firefight?" He asked bluntly, with a harsh tone.

Lyvan shifted his position, but kept his eyes locked with Javar's. "Hiding. I would've just gotten myself killed."

Javar shook his head, sighing. He couldn't believe that, in the heat of battle, the Turian had abandoned his saviors. Sure, he was only a civilian, but he should've held his ground like a man, not ran off like a child.

"What happened?" Javar asked as he came to Dom, who was staring out into the endless snowy mountains of Noveria, indisposed.

"Dezor...we uh, we were taking on an Atlas, he told me he had it, so I focused on the Cerberus troops...I managed to take them out, but I got hit. I was awake, though, I saw it, he charged the Atlas...he just, just kept charging it over and over, he didn't..." Dom stopped for a second, exhaling deeply. "He didn't stop, even though it had its laser on him. He charged forward and it fired, and it killed both of them, that's um...that's..." Dom started, pointing to what seemed to be a large chunk of blood and gore laying on the ground.

Once Javar realized it was a piece of Dezor, he backed up and turned to Dom, a horrified expression on his face.

"You...let-..watched him die? I.." Javar started, intending to make a derogatory remark towards the human, but empathy overwhelmed him, forcing him to understand. He knew deep down Dom couldn't have saved Dezor, and Dezor willingly gave his life, knowing what he was doing, to save theirs. "I'm sorry." Was all Javar said.

Dom looked up, almost confused, a large amount of surprise evident on his face. He was all but expecting the Batarian to use the situation against him.

"The communications scrambler is deactivated." Phaes stated, tapping a few final keys on the terminal, interrupting Dom and Javar's thoughts. For a moment, they had forgotten he was there. Lyvan, Dom, and Javar all moved over to him, Dom's limp causing him to fall behind the others.

"Now we can open a commutations channel to Special Forces-"

A loud click grabbed their attention, and they all turned to see Lyvan aiming his pistol at them, a stern look on his face, quite the change from his look as a scared civilian.

"Step away from the terminal." He ordered directly.

"You bastard, what the hell are you-" Javar started.

"Shut the hell up, Batarian. I'm getting the hell out of here. Alone." Lyvan retorted in a harsh tone.

Phaes slowly lifted his hands in the air and began to back away from the terminal, cautiously. Suddenly he turned and moved to strike Lyvan in the face with one hand, the other reaching for his pistol. Lyvan ducked the punch and grabbed Phaes's arm that was reaching for his gun, and twisted it back on itself, dragging him to the floor, his gun clattering to the ground, arm outstretched. Lyvan slid his free hand over Phaes's pinned down wrist, and used his other hand to snap the palm backwards with a sickening crunch, breaking his wrist completely. Phaes let loose a loud cry of pain. Lyvan quickly picked his gun up off the floor and got to his feet, pulling Phaes up and using him as a shield.

Dom and Javar had their guns drawn, aiming them at Lyvan, hesitant to fire because of Phaes. Whoever the hell Lyvan was, he wasn't a civilian, not with moves like that. He was military, or worse.

Lyvan slowly made his way to the terminal, typing in a few commands with the end of his gun. After a few moments, a voice was heard.

"Yeah? Who the hell is this?" Grunted an obviously annoyed Turian over the communications channel.

"Plek, I need a Blue Suns shuttle to Noveria right now, the coordinates have been uploaded to your e-mail, I need that shuttle now, Infiltration Team failed, I'm the only survivor."

"Shit...alright, shuttle away, Torche, but when you get out of there, you and I are going to talk."

Lyvan backed away from the terminal and raised his gun, firing several shots into it, disabling it for good measure.

"Now I'm getting the hell out of here. Unless you want your friend to die, drop your guns." Lyvan spoke directly and fiercely, his voice no longer had a shakiness to it, an arrogant, demeaning tone replaced it entirely.

Dom and Javar glanced at each other, then to Phaes. He was in severe pain due to his hand, and it was more than evident from his agonizing expression and gasping.

"Shoot him! Shoot this bastard!" Phaes spouted. Lyvan tightened the grip around Phaes's throat.

"Now. Drop them. Last chance."

Dom exhaled deeply and scowled, tossing his gun onto the floor. Javar hesitated, closing his eyes and thinking for a moment, before complying, and letting his fall to the ground, as well.

Phaes pulled a hidden blade from his armor with his good hand and jammed it into Lyvan's thigh. Lyvan cried out, and Dom seized the opportunity, running forward and sliding with force across the ground, using his legs to sweep Lyvan off his feet and knock him to the floor. Phaes fell forward, and Javar quickly moved to help him.

Dom sent a right hand into Lyvan's face, but it only served to piss the Turian off, who threw the human off of him and quickly got back to his feet, pulling the blade out of his thigh with a slicing sound and a small grunt. He brought the blade up and threw it directly in front of him, sinking it into Javar's neck, who clutched at his wound and collapsed next to Phaes.

Quick back on his feet, Dom tackled Lyvan into the wall directly behind him, and then spun around, holding onto Lyvan, crushing him into the floor. The Turian rolled backwards, slamming his knee into Dom's head, causing Dom to lose his sense of balance and fall to the floor. Lyvan got up and mounted the railing running adjacent to the pillar, before diving off of it and tackling Dom into the wall behind him, and then throwing him to the ground forcefully. He let loose a loud chuckle at the human. There were few things he loved more than deceiving people, and kicking their ass was one of them.

"I figured you'd put up more of a challenge. Guess the Alliance has let themselves go."

Dom, who was slowly letting his anger take hold of him, bolted up and shoved the Turian back, before grabbing him by the armor and throwing him into the wall, spitting into his face and sending a knee into his gut. Dom reared his arm back, his omni blade flipping out. He moved to shove it into the Turian's face, but Lyvan ducked just in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding the omni blade, and quickly following it up with a right hand of his own, which Dom ducked, instead lifting him completely off the ground and sending him crashing into the railing, collapsing it entirely.

Lyvan moved to get up, but Dom brought his foot up as quickly as he could, stomping it into the back of Lyvan's head, forcing him back to the floor. Finally, he had the upper hand, and with all his hand to hand training, he had absolutely no intent of losing his offense again. Backing up a bit, Dom charged forward, moving to kick Lyvan in the head, but the Turian grabbed Dom's foot and dragged him to the floor, hitting him twice with excessive force in the face, shattering one of his teeth and causing him to spit it out in a mess of blood.

Out of nowhere, Javar jumped onto Lyvan's back, who had just gotten up. Javar attempted to choke the life out of the Turian, his arm wrapped around Lyvan's throat in a death grip. Blood was spilling out of the puncture in Javar's neck, but his determination was unbreakable. Lyvan fought with a fierce strength to remove the Batarian, but Javar was persistent as hell. Dom managed to get back to his feet, and as he did, Lyvan threw himself backwards, causing Javar to be slammed into the wall. Lyvan did this once more before he slipped off, completely drained of energy.

Javar moaned in pain as he looked up, his vision was blurred but he was able to make out the Turian and Human in front of him. Lyvan had managed to recover his gun, and was aiming it directly at Javar, the barrel locked on the Batarian with a menacing, unforgiving stare, just begging to be set off.

"I hope you said goodbye to your Batarian friend." Lyvan said, speaking with a hint of arrogance through long breaths. Despite being winded, his tone was deadly and emotionless, showing no regard for taking another's life. Clearly it was something he had experience with. But doing what?

It took a moment to hit Dom that Lyvan was going to kill Javar regardless, and then turn the gun on him. It was blatantly evident that the Turian wanted to get off this world, and he would kill all of them to do so. As Lyvan moved to turn his head back to Javar and fire the final shot, Dom charged forward, diving directly towards the gun Lyvan was wielding.

"No!"

Dom hit Lyvan's arm at an awkward angle, causing Dom to fall into the line of sight, but also managing to knock the gun loose. Unfortunately, he was a split second too late as Lyvan has squeezed the trigger just before Dom interfered, causing the gun to fire a shot directly into the chest of the human, knocking him to the ground next to Javar.

The gun clattered to the floor directly in front of Dom, and despite the sharp pain in his chest, he put an outstretched arm in front of him and grabbed the gun, before standing up and turning to aim it at Lyvan, only the Turian was quicker, kicking the gun out of Dom's hand and sending it flying across the room. Through the piercing pain, Dom pushed onwards, getting to his feet and staring at the Turian, raising his fists, ready for a fight to the death.

Javar slowly pulled the blade that Lyvan had thrown at him from a hidden compartment in his armor, and tossed it forward, "Dom!" He shouted. Dom caught the blade and held it tightly, determined.

Lyvan chuckled. "Bringing a knife to a fist fight? Cute. I'll be sure to shove it deeper into the Batarian's neck after I'm finished with you."

Dom spat a combination of blood and saliva onto the ground. His breaths were sharp and heavy. He had no idea how Lyvan kept going, but if he didn't give up, neither would Dom. Either bravery, or stupidity, but he wasn't willing to back down.

Dom charged forward, blade at the ready. Lyvan slipped to the floor, sticking his foot out, causing Dom to fall to the ground. He then quickly pounced onto Dom, pinning him down, before slamming his fist into Dom's face again.

"Face it, human, you can't win. We had you beat in the First Contact War, and I have you beat now."

Dom strained against the Turian's hold, but it just wasn't enough. Breathing heavily, he stared up at Lyvan, shaking his head. The pain hurt like hell, but he refused to entertain the slightest thought of giving up.

"That was your problem in the First Contact War...and it's your problem now. You underestimate us."

Dom then began thrashing furiously against Lyvan's hold, which at first, appeared futile, but the hold began loosening. At the soonest opportunity. Dom's hand broke free and he grabbed the blade, before jamming it into Lyvan's eye. Lyvan cried out, bringing his hand up, but Dom quickly pulled the blade out of the Turian's eye and slid it across one of the Turian's thick fingers, slicing it completely off midway down, and causing a shower of blood to coat both the Human and the Turian.

Severely wounded and half blinded, Lyvan slowly got to his feet, a shower of blue trickling down the left side of his face, and his left hand leaking blood onto the floor. Dom stood opposite him, knife gripped tightly, waiting for his next move.

Slowly the Turian reached behind him and produced another pistol, much smaller in size. "This is the end of the road, human. It's over."

Dom shook his head, a disgusted expression on his face, before letting loose a small chuckle. "So that's it? You lose control so you pull a gun? You're fucking-"

Two shots rang out from the gun, nailing Dom twice in the chest, causing him to stumble for a moment, looking down at his armor. Two new holes had formed right in the area the first shot had hit him, and red was slowly starting to stain them, but he knew he had some fight left in him. He began stumbling forward, slowly but surely. Lyvan, impressed, but also disappointed, raised his gun yet again, and pulled the trigger, but the only thing he got was an expel of smoke. He stared at his gun, before realizing he'd run out of ammo, and he didn't have any spare thermal clips. Frustrated, he tossed it aside and approached Dom. Dom swung his knife forward, but Lyvan grabbed it from him easily. Face to face with the human, Lyvan shook his head.

"You're pathetic, and your race always will be." Lyvan spoke with much hatred, spitting into the face of Dom, before jamming the knife into a weak spot in the front of Dom's armor, penetrating straight through into the heart area of him. Dom's eyes widened, and he slumped forward, leaning on Lyvan. He attempted to wrap his arms around the Turian to regain his balance, but Lyvan pulled the knife from him, sending him crashing to the floor in front of him.

Lyvan glanced around for a moment, before a series of shots rang out from behind him. He slowly turned to see Javar, clutching his neck with one hand, and a smoking pistol in the other. He advanced on Lyvan quick, slamming the gun into the face of him.

"Bastard!" Javar shouted, shoving Lyvan to the ground. Javar brought his gun up, aiming directly at Lyvan's head. "Rot in whatever afterlife you have, you waste." He spat. Lyvan began to respond, but a round to the head cut him off before he began. Javar slowly let the gun slip from his hands, before exhaling deeply.


	8. A Visit From An Old Friend

**Author's Note:** _Big change of pace for this chapter, let me know what you think, I think this is where the plot begins to expand tenfold!_

* * *

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 8: A Visit From An Old Friend

A female wearing a tight-fit outfit, decorated with the prominent Cerberus logo, rushed through several laboratories, a datapad clutched firm in her hand. Her pace picked up as she passed through each consecutive lab, all containing several of the best human scientists, performing tests on other humans. As cruel as it sounded, she'd grown used to seeing things like that done, and was utterly convinced it was for the greater good of humanity. She rounded a door into a hallway, and progressed along it. Coming to another door, this one with a keypad, she quickly placed her palm onto it. After a moment of scanning, the door opened, and she advanced onto a catwalk from an extending platform. She continued through one final door, before entering a large office with a large desk towards the front, overlooking a large dying star.

Sitting in the chair at his terminal was none other than the Illusive Man himself, swiping through several documents on Reaper tech, a cigarette in his free hand and a bottle filled with the most expensive alcohol money could by sitting on the table next to him.

The female came up behind him, coughing lightly in hopes of stealing his attention. The Illusive Man didn't seem to notice her, continuing to read over the documents. After a few moments, he spoke, though his attention never left the documents.

"What is it, Reyna? I'm slightly preoccupied at the moment." He said, his eyes scanning over the information in the documents with absolute focus.

"Um, well, sir.." Reyna began, fidgeting with her hands, "First, it's just that we can confirm the communications scrambler on Facility White has been disabled, and a video signal shows that there's four intruders..."

"Yes, I'm quite aware, Reyna. I was aware fourteen minutes ago. I don't see why you came to me with this, Johnson is in charge of-"

"Cairo has been recovered, sir."

The Illusive Man suddenly stopped scanning the document, and fell silent for a moment, a bare look on his face alluding to a state of shock. He would slowly stand up and turn to face Reyna, a stern expression on his face, but he kept his professional disposition.

"Cairo was..recovered?" He repeated, asking her.

"Yes sir. He willingly checked in an hour and a half ago, of course we had to verify that it was him, but-"

"Where is he now?" The Illusive Man asked, interrupting her with a much bolder and direct tone.

"Downstairs, but-"

"Send him up. Immediately." The Illusive Man said, his tone assertive and demanding. He turned and glanced back at the documents, though it was clear they were no longer his focus.

Reyna opened her mouth to speak more, but quickly turned on her heel, complying unreservedly.

* * *

"Jack."

Cairo stepped into the room slowly, glancing around the Illusive Man's office of sorts. He was dressed in a slick silver armor, and it was clear his right arm was entirely mechanical, it was slightly larger than the average human arm, and had a few connecting wires infused into the "skin", but otherwise resembled a human arm perfectly, save for being a sleek silver. A Caucasian male, his messy brown hair was short and the sides were shaved, though it was clear he hadn't shaved in a while, a bushy black beard made that evident. A large scar was on his face, crossing his right eye at a diagonal angle. The pupil appeared red, with the actual eyeball looking black, again hinting at modification. He had a large build overall, and appeared strong and agile. He was the absolute definition of intimidating.

"You know not to call me that. Jack is dead." The Illusive Man said, speaking with a distinct and direct tone, exhaling his smoke and dipping his cigarette into the ash tray, putting it out.

"I think after what you did to me, titles are irrelevant." Cairo said, firing back at the Illusive Man, pacing around the office in an impatient manner.

"What we did? You mean what you did?" The Illusive Man asked, directing the blame back at Cairo.

"Me? You sent me on a mission to get Collector Intel from a schizophrenic Blue Suns merc, and his buddies found me! Beat me within an inch of my goddamn life! Fucked up my implant, and left me for dead! C-Sec found me and left me to rot in a damn cell, what did you do to get me back?" Cairo shouted at the Illusive Man in fury.

"It's unfortunate if a mission I gave you was the catalyst for your beating and arrest, but I will not apologize for not sending help. You got caught, don't try to pin that on me, and you were never officially part of Cerberus, you were and still are, to my knowledge, freelance." The Illusive Man shot back in a calm, confident tone.

The Illusive Man spoke calmly, and with stinging precision. He moved to approach Cairo, who still appeared furious, but somewhat calmer. Deep down he knew the Illusive Man was right.

"Now, Adam..." The Illusive Man began, "I'm onto something big here. The key to defeating the Reaper threat. This is no time for petty grudges, I need your assistance. Are you in?"

Cairo exhaled deeply, shaking his head. "I...don't know. Tell me what you're onto. Then I'll decide." Cairo spoke with a distinct hesitation to trust.

"First, I need you to do something for me," The Illusive Man said, turning and moving to his table, filling his glass with alcohol. After taking a sip, he nodded. "Noveria. I have a research facility there that's acting as a double base for my project on Horizon. It's become..infiltrated, by some Special Forces operatives. I need them disabled and the base restored."

"What's in this for me? I'll be honest with you, my mind's mostly set on walking out of this place and not coming back. I need a little bit more than paying off a favor." Cairo said, folding his arms.

"You'll learn my plan. You've been with me for a long time, Cairo. I trust you, I'm willing to let you in on this, just take care of it. I'll also make you an official member of Cerberus. One of the three main operatives." The Illusive Man said, turning to face Cairo again, his eyes flickering with persuasion.

Cairo exhaled deeply again, clearly tempted by the offer, but not quite persuaded completely, not just yet. "Alright, but after this, you have to give me one thing. Bailey. Commander Bailey from C-Sec. He made life hell for me, I want my hands on that bastard, I want to ring his filthy neck and bury him alive." Cairo stated with an intense hatred.

"Done, but not until you get back. We'll have some men on the Citadel soon, provided you return to me within a few days, you've got him."

Cairo nodded, slowly turning around and heading to the door. "I'll get you your base back, just have Bailey ready." Cairo said as he exited the room.

"Glad to have you back, Adam. Get the job done, and you'll be by my side when we take control."


	9. A New Perspective, A New Enemy

**Author's Note: **_This chapter begins some of the most intense moments of the story! It's longer, but bear with it, hopefully it keeps you on the edge of your seat!_

* * *

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 9 – A New Perspective, A New Enemy

Javar, along with Phaes, who was moving, but in an extraordinary amount of pain due to his arm, slowly made their way to Dom. He'd crawled to a nearby wall and was sitting up, but there was a large trail of blood following him. He was clutching his wound, trying to keep pressure applied, but it just kept bleeding. The blade wound was undoubtedly the worst, the gunshots weren't helping. His face was caked with blood and sweat, both dried and fresh, and he was in so much pain he hardly felt it anymore. It hurt to even breath, his breaths were quick, but small, he felt like he wasn't getting enough oxygen, but the sharp pain every breath caused nearly made it an indomitable effort.

Kneeling to the side of Dom, Javar looked him over, shaking his head. "Well, you managed to get him." He said, trying to sound somewhat optimistic.

Dom let loose a small chuckle. "Right...that was...you." He said, his sharp breaths slowing his speech and giving it a shaky tone.

Javar turned to look at him directly, and sighed. "Do you want to try to move?"

"N-no...I can't, it took all my effort and then some to get over here, I couldn't walk even, even if I wanted to.." He said, closing his eyes and wincing in pain. He could feel himself growing weaker, he'd lost so much blood already.

"I...wish there was something I could do." Phaes said, shaking his head. "We're out of medi-gel now, and..."

Dom shook his head, "N-no good anyways...probably wouldn't do much.." He said, before coughing, and sighing. He looked at the, before shaking his head again. "You two can...can't do anything for me. Get going, get the hell out of here." He stated, closing his eyes again.

"I..." Javar started, sighing. It was never good when a fellow soldier was inches from death, but even more so when they had dove in front of a bullet for you, someone you had an intense dislike for, and they were willing to die for you. It showed Javar a new side of humanity he hadn't ever considered before, and one that would stick with him forever. Obviously not all humans would've done that, but he admired the determination and willingness of the species overall, now. "I was wrong about you, your whole species. Before this mission, you were just a scumbag human to me. You were dirt to me, just like your species. I know now that's not the case. You're a brave man, Dominic. You did good."

Dom had a slightly surprised expression on his face, but nodded. "T-thanks. You did good too. You're a hell of a soldier..."

Javar exhaled deeply and turned to Phaes, who slowly stood up and nodded.

"We'll bring back help once we get it." Javar said, picking up his gun and looking sympathetically at Dom, he wished so badly he could do something to help the human.

"Sounds good..." Dom said, slowly closing his eyes.

Javar and Phaes took one last look at Dom, before moving to the other side of the room and advancing through another door, leaving their comrade behind. It wasn't something either of them wanted to do, but trying to move him would just hurt him more. It hit Javar harder, though. Dom had changed his perception on the entire human species, they were resilient, and had a hellish determination, even against insurmountable odds. He no longer hated them, or Shepard. They got things done, and he admired that. Javar still hurt horribly for his family, but he respected humanity now, for their will against the Reapers, and in general.

* * *

Cairo landed his shuttle on the first landing pad he saw at the facility. There was another one adjacent on the other side of the facility, but he suspected the group of soldiers had come in that way, and he wanted to catch them as they were escaping.

It had been a long time since he'd been on any sort of mission. After being beat nearly to death by the Blue Suns and left for dead, he spent 6 months rotting in the C-Sec jail, they only had a few suspected assassinations on him, but the trial date kept getting pushed back, and he'd eventually decided to break out. He used his intelligence and cunningness to retrieve a guard's uniform from someone he paid off on the inside, and managed to escape C-Sec swiftly, with only 3 casualties.

After he got out, he had nothing on his mind but revenge. He scoured the galaxy in a stolen ship, tracking down the Turian bastard that had beat him so badly, but he didn't attack him directly. Instead, he invaded his family's home and tied them up, beating them and sending vids of them to the Turian until he showed up. Cairo then broke both the Turian's knees and shot him in front of his family, before leaving.

He then immediately went to the Cerberus Headquarters to confront the Illusive Man. He was convinced he was going to put a bullet in his head. The two went very far back, when Cerberus was just getting off the ground, Cairo was employed for one mission, and continued working for Cerberus since. He got very personal with the Illusive Man, few were closer than he was, although he never truly trusted the man, he'd learned plenty about his past and who he truly was. Despite the Illusive Man's methods, Cairo respected his overarching goal and plan, and supported it entirely.

Cairo had brought a respectable arsenal of weaponry with him to the facility. An SMG with a silencer was his primary weapon, and he had a hidden spare pistol in a secret compartment on the back of his armor. Dual hidden blades strapped to either side of his thighs and painted with colors matching his armor. Not to mention his entire right arm, which was significantly more powerful than a regular arm.

Closing his shuttle and shoving a fresh thermal clip into his SMG, he headed into the building. He wasn't nervous, nor hesitant, he'd fought soldiers before, and fully expected this to be an easy job for him.

No pressure.

* * *

Javar and Phaes glanced around the hallway they'd come into. There was one door at the end of the hallway, and it seemed to lead into a smaller room, followed by a final hallway heading to the entry area, and then the landing pad. Through the frosted glass they could almost make out the landing pad, but not entirely. The blizzard must have gotten worse, they were able to see through the glass only an hour prior.

"How's your arm?" Javar asked as the two walked through the hall. The whole facility seemed to be empty now, either they had eliminated all the Cerberus troops, or they had retreated.

"It hurts. Badly. But I'm moving. I don't think it's a hairline fracture, as you humans say. But I need medical attention soon...ish." Phaes replied, feeling a ripple of pain through his arm with every step he took.

As they came to the end of the first hallway and entered the next room, they inspected it carefully with their eyes. Desks, chairs, and computer terminals. It seemed like a small office area. Javar and Phaes began to move forward, but a stirring to their right caused them both to draw their guns and aim them at the desk from where it came from.

"Out. Now." Javar shouted, he was in no mood for any more surprises, he'd seen enough people die.

Slowly a Salarian dressed in civilian clothes appeared. His hands were shaking, and he appeared to be in a large amount of fear.

"P-please! Don't shoot! Please!" He pleaded, his voice as shaky as his hands.

"Who are you?" Phaes asked, keeping his pistol trained on him the best he could.

"I-I'm Kresh. Kresh...Kresh Fyde. I'm just a delivery worker! I-I didn't know Cerberus was here, I've been delivering supplies for weeks! I thought it was odd there were only humans, but I'm just a delivery boy!" He shouted, clearly in a fit of panic.

"Easy, calm down." Phaes said, slowly lowering his gun. He turned to Javar, who kept his gun trained on Kresh with absolute precision.

"Come out from there. Hands raised." Javar ordered, re-gripping his gun. He was beyond hesitant to trust anyone at this point. Trusting a Turian who claimed to be a civilian ended up getting one of his team killed.

Kresh complied without question, keeping his jittery hands raised, staring at the two soldiers sympathetically. He gulped, staring at them with intense fear in his eyes.

"I think he's a scared civilian, Javar. You can take your gun off him." Phaes said, placing his into his holster.

"Not a chance. Trusting another 'civilian' got Dom killed and cost us our way off this damn frozen planet." Dom retorted harshly, his hesitance to trust palpable, and not unjustified by what he'd seen and been through.

"Maybe not, the Blue Suns shuttle is coming. Look at him, he's shaking!" Phaes said, shaking his head.

"If you need proof...proof...th-there are some Cerberus files here. I-I haven't looked at them, not much, but maybe y-you would be interested...?" Kresh asked, slowly lowering his hands.

Javar grunted, and sighed. "Fine. Show us."

Kresh lowered his hands and moved to one of the nearby terminals. He typed on the holo controls for a few minutes, Javar slowly lowered his gun as he did, holstering it. Phaes nodded to him in compliance.

"There..." Kresh said, bringing up several documents on Cerberus. He moved to stand behind the two as they read over it.

The documents were shocking, but not entirely unexpected. They gave a detailed accounting of the Sanctuary project, and what Cerberus was doing to their own people, "upgrading" them. They looked very similar to the husks Shepard reported he encountered on Eden Prime, It seemed as if Cerberus themselves were indoctrinated, or at least partially. They revealed future plans and enhancements to these "upgrades" as well, including direct control chips.

The photos attached were sickening, and Javar shook his head as he read over it and looked at the pictures. He knew Cerberus had a bad rep, but this was beyond anything he expected out of an extremist group. And yet, unfortunately, a part of him wasn't shocked by these plans at all.

Javar exhaled deeply, before bringing up his omni tool. He began downloading all the reports onto it. Phaes looked at him curiously.

"Are you going to use that against humanity?" He asked curiously, he knew how the Batarian felt about humanity, although his last moments with Dominic were almost out of character. Maybe he'd changed his perception of them.

Javar waited a moment before replying, beginning to upload it. "No, I'm uploading this to the Alliance. It's the least I owe Dominic, I know how he felt about humans being tested on, even if this can help a little bit, it's worth it."

He turned as the upload completed, looking at Kresh. "I...apologize about earlier. We've just lost a couple of our guys and it's hard trusting a stranger."

Kresh slowly nodded. "I...I understand. I forgive you, don't, don't worry. You mentioned a shuttle. I can get you to the landing pad. There's a keycard required. I have one, though."

"I-"

Javar started, but the wall behind them exploded in a sudden and instant blast, knocking them all to the ground and sending a decent amount of rubble falling onto them. Once the smoke cleared from the blast, Cairo came into view, dropping a rocket launcher at his feet, another one of the tools he'd brought along for the job.

Kresh was the first one up, and once he saw Cairo, his eyes widened and he tried to run. Cairo was faster, though, quickly moving and appearing in front of Kresh. He grabbed the Salarian by the throat and proceeded to slam his head into the nearby wall three times, opening a large gash on his head, but knocking him out cold. He let Kresh's body slump to the ground, smirking.

Cairo didn't see Javar get up, however, and he turned around into a large right hand from the Batarian, causing him to stumble. Javar went to follow up with another one, but Cairo brought his cybernetic right hand up, blocking with ease, turning and slamming his left elbow into Javar's face. In a swift movement he quickly raised his leg and slammed it into the chest of Javar, sending him flying back into the wall with a powerful kick. He collapsed to the ground, coughing.

Phaes got to his feet slowly, staring at Cairo. Cairo chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you really want to try? You're hurt. I'll give you this one for free, I'll knock you on your ass, and you stay down."

Phaes grunted. "Do your worst, Cairo. You didn't beat me last time."

Cairo began approaching Phaes, who suddenly slung his right arm out quickly, letting the blade that Lyvan had used fly from his hand. It caught a small bit of Cairo's neck, and clattered to the ground with a new shining coat of red on the tip. Cairo growled, and charged into Phaes, tackling him to the ground. Phaes cried out when his broken arm hit the ground, sending a huge amount of pain throughout his body. Cairo slammed his cybernetic fist into Phaes's face at least a half dozen times, causing several deep gashes. He picked up the knife that the Salarian had thrown at him, and jammed it forcefully into the Salarian's thigh, the strength of his cybernetic arm forcing the blade through Phaes's armor with relative ease. This was followed by a loud cry from Phaes, which Cairo simply chuckled at.

Cairo turned to see Javar standing a few feet away with a pistol pointed at him. He feigned fright, before darting forward and using his left hand to shove Javar's wielding hand up, causing the shot Javar fired almost instantly to miss him, while simultaneously slamming his right fist into Javar's stomach, causing him to slump over. Cairo threw Javar to the ground, and once the gun fell as well, he kicked it away carelessly.

He was a skilled assassin, and he knew most, if not all of the hand to hand military moves taught to soldiers for almost every species. There was no doubt that Cairo was a skilled fighter, he was precise, direct, and strong. Guns, swords, hand to hand, he had it all mastered, and his skills had led him to become one of the most feared and wanted men in the galaxy.

And he loved it all.

Javar slowly attempted to get up, but Cairo produced his omni blade, and quickly slammed it into Javar's head, creating a decent sized gash running the length of one side of the Batarian's head. Javar growled, the actual cut wasn't too deep, but he refused to let this continue, he was going to kick this bastard's ass!

Javar sprung back up as quickly as he could, tackling Cairo into a wall, and bringing himself up to throw the Human to the ground, but Cairo was one step ahead, sliding under Javar's legs and pulling his feet out from under him, sending him crashing into the wall face first. Cairo's agility and strength were beyond impressive, and he was showing it completely.

"I thought you Batarians were supposed to be some tough bastards. You're letting me down." Cairo taunted. Javar slowly got to his feet, and started at Cairo, aggrivated.

Javar feigned charging forward, and Cairo backed up just perfectly enough for Javar to send forth an extremely powerful warp blast, sending Cairo flying into the wall behind him, revealing Javar as a powerful biotic.

"We are." He said directly. He had never truly wanted to be a biotic, and rarely used his powers, but this situation demanded it, Cairo was more than a formidable opponent. He regretted not using it on Lyvan, but he was out during most of that battle, and when he wasn't, he acted on instinct rather than logic. He wouldn't make that mistake twice.

Cairo returned to his feet and charged, but Javar set a singularity down right in front of him, sending the Human Assassin spiraling through the air. Javar then sent a vicious right hand into Cairo's face, sending him crashing to the floor. Javar could feel himself being drained from the use of his biotics, but he refused to stop.

He ran forward and jumped high into the air, crashing down onto the floor with a powerful nova, sending the attempting-to-get-up body of Cairo flying back and crashing into the opposite wall, leaving a huge dent. Drained of energy, Javar pushed on, collapsing to his knees as he reached Cairo. The right side of Cairo's head was busted open, and fresh blood trickled down it. Javar was indifferent to it, instead raising his fist and slamming it into the face of the Human, and then again, and once again, until he was physically unable to continue, at which point he collapsed next to Cairo.

Exhaustion had finally overwhelmed the Batarian, from the hours-long battle with the Reapers at Firebase White, to the wreck, to the long journey to this facility, to the constant gun battles, it had taken a toll on him entirely, causing him to finally hit his breaking point.

Several moments passed before Cairo raised a hand up and used the wall next to him to slowly get to his feet. He spat blood down onto Javar, before overturning the Batarian with his foot. Javar slowly moved to try and get up, but Cairo brought his foot down forcefully onto his head, knocking him out cold, before stepping over his body.

Phaes was slowly crawling to the gun that Cairo had kicked away, and for a Salarian with a knife jammed into his leg and a broken arm, he'd gotten a decent ways, Cairo could acknowledge that. But it was ultimately futile. Cairo kicked Phaes in his leg right next to where the blade was impacted, and he cried out with a horrifying scream in pain. Cairo picked up the gun, and smirked.

"Nice try, but I win this one. You guys put up a hell of a fight, but you're coming with me." He said, speaking directly, before kneeling and slamming the end of his gun into Phaes's head several times, making sure he was knocked out, only satisfied when there were several new gashes on his face, pouring fresh blood out.

A job well done, if he did say so himself.


	10. Keep Your Friends Close

**Author's Note**: _Hopefully this chapter holds a few twists and turns you weren't expecting. This is one of my favorite chapters, I had a blast writing it. Let me know what you think!_

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 10 – Keep Your Friends Close...

Dom was in and out of consciousness for the longest time, it seemed. There had been a sharp buzzing in his ears, and pounding pain throughout his body. It rippled through him like a drop of water through a pond, each was less painful then the last, but it was constant, going until it was so distant he could hardly feel it, then it started again. Was this death? Was his soul leaving his body and proceeding to the afterlife? He had never been a religious man, but the thought that he could be forced to experience this pain forever as punishment frightened him. He couldn't even open his eyes, there was just nothing. He couldn't make a sound, either, it was like he was aware, but nothing was there. He couldn't tell if this was real or not, but the pain was agonizing enough to hint towards the former.

He tried to recall anything recent, a memory, thought, anything. He remembered talking to Javar, the actual words were fuzzy, but he remembered them both ending on good terms, which surprised the hell out of him. Then, nothing. He could've sworn someone came to him and possibly grabbed him, but there was just nothing to recall from his mind.

Slowly, Dom began feeling an overwhelming, sharp pain. This was very unlike anything he had ever felt. Suddenly, a flash of white filled his eyes, and he cried out loudly. His mind was suddenly overwhelmed with unfamiliar desires and goals. He felt his needs and wants shift, and he was powerless to fight against the change, it overtook him, consumed him completely, and after only a few moments, he accepted them entirely. It hurt like hell as it did so, his head pounded with unimaginable pain, but slowly, his eyes began seeing outlines of shapes at first, then color, then finally figures. They were blurry at first, but after a while, they came into view. His vision was different, everything had a dark blue tint to it, and he felt himself reevaluating things differently, he no longer cared that a table was a table, or the gurney he was strapped to was a gurney, he just knew it wasn't something he wanted, thus making him indifferent to it entirely.

Dom felt something switch in him, his mind was completely overcome with his new thoughts. He accepted everything as true, and couldn't fight it at all. The pain was suddenly gone, and he embraced every idea he suddenly had. The Reapers had arrived, and the only way they were going to be stopped was through direct control, destroying them would be the biggest mistake that humanity, or any species, could make. He knew it, and he knew that the Illusive Man would guide them straight to control of the Reapers.

There were two men in front of him, one was dressed in a scientist/doctor uniform and was holding a datapad, while talking to the other one. The other was dressed in an expensive suit, a cigarette in one hand. He appeared to be the rich type, he had a determined, yet menacingly persuasive nature to him. Slowly, Dom's ears began to be filled with their words. He grunted again, and both of them looked up.

The Illusive Man looked up and smiled at Dom, who was at a vertical slant on a gurney, restrained for his own protection and theirs. He took a long drag off his cigarette, shaking his head. He then looked up at Dominic, and nodded. His free hand moved to take the datapad from the scientist, looking it over.

"Dominic Vega...Special Forces. You'll come in handy, your cousin James is working with one of my adversaries." The Illusive Man read aloud, glancing over the datapad, it contained extensive information about Dom and his past.

"James is with the Alliance, they must be stopped. I will kill him if I have to." Dom stated in a blunt tone, fully realizing what he had to do.

The Illusive Man nodded. "That you will. I'm glad to have you with us, Vega. You'll make a formidable soldier. Do well, and you might even become one of my head operatives. You'll be released soon."

Dom nodded in understanding.

The Illusive Man handed the datapad back to the scientist. The scientist grabbed it, and after looking at it for a moment, returned his gaze to the Illusive Man. "How long until our guests wake up?" The scientist asked, glancing into the back part of the room.

The Illusive Man nodded, and glanced to the back of the room as well. Propped up on similar gurneys were the Salarians and the Batarian, unconscious. Cairo had recovered them and brought them to the Illusive Man, who was going to have his head scientist attempt to use the implant on them. It was unlikely it would work with alien DNA, but these three would be the first step towards seizing control of the rest of the species once Cerberus had taken control of the Reapers.

"Not long, not long now. Have the modifications ready. And send Cairo up, I need to make good on my promise." The Illusive Man said, a smile forming on his lips.


	11. A Hero Lost, Pt 1

**Author's Note:** _The beginning of the end here, people! Love this chapter for the tension and high stakes, writing it was super fun, and I hope you enjoy reading it! Let me know what you think!_

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 11: Decadence (A Hero Lost, Pt. 1)

Phaes awoke in a fit of pain. His broken arm was throbbing with hurt, and even the thought of moving it caused him to wince. Once he realized that he, along with Javar, Kresh, and Dom, had been captured, his hope started dwindling. They were alone in the room, and it was completely dark. He could barely make out the outline of Javar and Kresh, and Dominic had a small light on above his head, illuminating his ghostly, modified form.

"Hey!" Phaes shouted, but as he did so, the lights in the room kicked on, blinding him and waking Javar and Kresh up. Javar shouted as he discovered he was restrained, trying to break free of the grasp it had on him. Kresh tried to escape as well, minus the loud shouting.

"Let me out of here! Now! I'll kill you! I'll..." Javar started, fighting against the restraints with what little energy he had left, the biotic outburst he had completely drained him, but he'd mustered enough energy to fight against the wrist and ankle clasps that were pinning him to the gurney. He stumbled in his words once he saw Dom.

Dom was almost unrecognizable. Looking nearly identical to the Special Forces soldiers they'd discovered on the base on Noveria, except he was still in his suit, it was a shocking, horrific sight. His face was stained a dark black with modification, his eyes were glowing a light blue, it seemed as if something had destroyed the pupils themselves, it was just white with a blue tint. His head was entirely shaved to make room for more modification, it looked like they had done extensive work on his head, in addition to the modification stains, there was a large incision on the right side of his head that appeared to be freshly stitched up.

"Dom..." Javar started, gulping afterwards. His voice shook a tiny bit, it was hard enough leaving him to die back at the Noveria facility, but now to see that Cerberus took Dom, who was inches from death, and turned him into this monster, this puppet, it was the most gruesome, sickening thing Javar had ever seen in his life, and he'd seen a lot.

Dom slowly turned to Javar, his light blue eyes staring directly at the Batarian. Javar started to speak, but the door on the far side of the room opened, and the Illusive Man, Cairo, and the scientist all came into the room. The Illusive Man sat his half-empty glass of alcohol down on a nearby desk, and slowly approached Javar.

The room they were in was fairly small, it appeared to be some sort of minor laboratory, or testing chamber. There was minimal medical equipment, four gurneys, a desk, and walking space through the length of the room.

"What have you done to him, you bastard?" Javar shouted in a horrified, yet anger-filled emotional tone.

The Illusive Man looked back at Dom, and slowly began walking toward him. "He was battered and beaten within an inch of his life. I saved his life. And I upgraded him." The Illusive Man said, speaking with a palpable sense of pride and accomplishment.

"You turned him into a husk! How do you justify modifying him like one of your toy soldiers? He's dead either way, now!" Javar retorted, his anger-ridden shouts littered with shakiness.

"Not true. He's not a member of Cerberus, so I left his personality somewhat intact. He will be a leader on the battlefield, and possibly my next head operative." The Illusive Man replied, nodding to the scientist. The scientist moved to the computer terminal next to Dom's gurney and hit a few controls. The restraints were released, and Dom took his first steps down from it, coming face to face with the Illusive Man.

"Are you ready for your first mission?" The Illusive Man asked directly.

"Don't do it Dom! Don't play into his games! Kill him!" Javar shouted from the back of the room.

Dom seemed to simply ignore him, instead opting to nod. "Yes, sir." He said, speaking in a blank tone, prepared for his mission. He felt great physically, and was prepared for anything.

"Good. Go wait in my office, I'll be there momentarily." The Illusive Man said, turning swiftly as Dom obliged unconditionally, exiting the room and heading down the hall.

"What do you want from us?" Kresh yelled, straining against the binding restrains of the gurney in a panic.

The Illusive Man picked up his glass of alcohol, and took a long sip from it before setting it back down. He appeared to be in deep thought for several moments, before returning to reality and stepping forward, coming closer to Javar, Kresh, and Phaes. Cario remained back at the other side of the room.

"You are going to be the first live subjects we've had here. Our upgrades are designed for humans, but we know we can get them to work on other species, testing them on you will simply tell us what we need to modify, given how you react." The Illusive Man stated, reciting his plan.

"You're a sick mother fucker, you know that?" Javar asked, before straining against the binds again, but his lack of energy made the effort futile.

"To the contrary. I see the bigger pictures no military or organization of any species is able to see." The Illusive Man said, raising his voice proudly.

He began walking back to Cairo, looking at him with a tilted head. "You did good, Cairo. You fulfilled your end of the bargain. Now it's time for me to fulfill mine. Now, Jameson!"

Cairo looked confused, but the scientist produced a pistol and slammed it into the back of Cairo's head, sending him to one knee. The scientist moved to the front of Cairo after quickly tapping a few commands into the gurney controls that previously contained Dom.

Cairo moved to get up, but the gun in his face caused him to hesitate about attacking. The Illusive Man watched from behind the Scientist with a cocky expression on his face, sipping at his alcohol. Cairo slowly raised his hands in a defensive manner. He hadn't brought any weapons with him onto the station, he left them in his shuttle, certain he could trust Cerberus and the Illusive Man, which was clearly becoming a mistake.

"What the hell is this, Jack?" Cairo asked, looking at the Illusive Man with burning eyes full of hate and desperation.

"You'll be at my side just like I promised, Cairo. I'm just making sure you'll be the soldier I need you to be. You're being upgraded. This is my gift to you." He stated arrogantly, nodding as if Cairo should be appreciative.

"You sick mother-" Cairo moved to charge the Illusive Man, but the scientist slammed the grip of the pistol into Cairo's nose, causing a decent amount of blood to begin leaking out.

The scientist then handed the Illusive Man the gun, who proceeded to aim it directly at Cairo. The scientist moved forward and began strapping Cairo in. Cairo brought his fist down onto his back, and the scientist cried out, but the Illusive Man fired a shot only inches away from Cairo's head, a dead serious expression on his face and his aim exact.

"Don't, Cairo. Don't."

The scientist quickly finished strapping him in, and moved back to the terminal as Cairo stared at the Illusive Man, a sickening, betrayed expression on his face. He regretted ever trusting the Illusive Man, he knew something had changed in him recently, he just didn't want to face reality. If he could get out of these damn restraints, he'd bash the Illusive Man's fucking head in.

The doors opened all of a sudden as Reyna came rushing in, staring right at the Illusive Man. He turned and looked at her, clearly annoyed with her interruption.

"Sir, Shepard's discovered the Prothean VI on Thessia, vid communications signal has just been set up, this is urgent!"

The Illusive Man grunted, before setting his gun down on the table and exiting the room. "Jameson, watch them!"

Jameson the Scientist moved to stand directly in front of Cairo, staring up at him, a twisted smile on his face. Apparently he'd known this was the Illusive Man's plan all along, and said nothing to Cairo when Cairo had seen him after he returned to see the Illusive Man.

"You're a fucking traitor, and scum." Cairo said, spitting directly into the face of Jameson. Jameson wiped it away, and moved to lean on the desk where the gun was.

Javar had been unusually silent, he had his eyes closed, and was straining himself, using what little energy he had to attempt to create a throw biotic ability that would shatter his restrains. It was taking all the energy he had regained from the short period of fighting with Cairo and waking up here, but he could feel them loosening, slowly but surely. He grunted loudly, grabbing Jameson's attention, but he didn't stop, he kept pressing as hard as he possibly could. His arms and legs felt like jello as he shoved them against the restrains, trying to help them break free, but he simply would not allow himself to stop, not after coming this far. Finally, with a loud yell, the restrains on both hand and both ankles broke off, and his body tumbled to the floor in a slump of energyless flesh.

"What the..." Jameson grabbed the gun and started towards Javar, who was laying on the ground, motionless. "Get up!" His shouted, aiming his gun at Javar's body.

It took a moment, but Javar slowly raised a hand, planting it onto the floor, and then the other, slowly managing to bring himself to his feet, which had been a monumental task for him. He stared at Jameson, and shook his head.

"I...I hope you don't expect me to willingly get back on there. Not a chance in hell." He spouted, through sharp, long breaths of exhaustion.

"Well then-" Jameson started, but somehow, Javar charged forward and tackled him. Jameson's gun fired into the ceiling, and then went flying from his hand.

Javar did his best to pin the human down, but Jameson tossed him aside and tried to get to his feet. Javar grabbed a mobile stand with surgical equipment on it and slung it into Jameson, sending him crashing back to the ground. Javar managed to get back to his feet, and proceeded to kick Jameson hard in the side, causing him to double over. Grabbing a scalpel from the floor, Javar dropped to his knees next to Jameson, and proceeded to jam the scalpel deep into one of Jameson's eyes, causing him to let loose a loud scream for a moment before falling silent.

Javar then collapsed next to him, he had no idea how he was able to muster the strength for that, but he couldn't move an arm even if he wanted to now.

"Javar!" Phaes shouted, wincing as he shifted his position slightly. "Come on! We have to get out of here! Come on, soldier!"

Phaes's words echoed into his head, but Javar felt like death. The shots he'd taken from the wreck, the facility, the three fist fights, he felt like closing his eyes for good, he felt like he would be fine with giving up now, and leaving everyone to their own problems.

But he couldn't, and knew he wouldn't.

Struggling, and failing a few times at first, Javar managed to get to his knees and make his way to Kresh's gurney terminal. He hit a few of the controls, and the restraints were released.

Kresh started to move to Javar, but instead jogged to Phaes's terminal and quickly released him. Phaes cried out in pain from his arm, but nodded to Kresh in thanks.

Phaes quickly moved to Javar, trying to help him up. The Batarian was in bad shape, no doubt. He just seemed completely exhausted, though, no fatal wounds or damage that Phaes could tell. Getting him to move, though, would be a challenge.

Slowly, an injured but moving Jameson appeared behind Phaes, holding the scalpel that had previously penetrated his eye. He came upon the Salarian, and roared as he raised the scalpel to stab him. Phaes turned in fear, raising his arm, but suddenly a shot rang out, and Jameson fell to the floor. Behind him, Kresh stood, holding the gun that Jameson had dropped. Slowly, he let it fall to the floor and fell to his knees in shock.

"I...I killed him..."

"Y-You did what you had to."

Kresh and Phaes turned to see Javar, who had managed to sit up, his back against the wall. He nodded to them, he was clearly exhausted, but his determination seemed to be that of a Human.

Phaes glanced over the items that had been scattered along the floor from the table Javar had thrown at Jameson, and picked up a syringe. He nodded after looking it over, and pulled the cap off of it. "This is a numbing agent, I've used this before and would recognize it anywhere. It should help you long enough it get us off this damn base."

"How do you know where we are?" Kresh asked, slowly standing up.

"The Illusive Man wouldn't show himself anywhere else, definitely not on Noveria, with their corporate competition and constant surprise guests including assassins. This is the Cerberus Headquarters. He rarely leaves. I've been on missions that involved Cerberus before." Phaes said, moving to Javar.

"Any chance Cerberus has messed with that?" Javar asked, wincing as Phaes injected it into his neck.

"There's nothing they could put into it to change what it is without changing its appearance, the most they could have done is alter the effect time. Either good or bad for us, but we're getting out of here as soon as possible either way." Phaes rattled off as he finished injecting the numbing agent into Javar, and tossing the syringe aside.

"Now, let's move." He said. Javar got to his feet and picked the gun up off the floor, and nodded to the other two. As they headed towards the door, they noticed Cairo, who stared at them.

"Hey!" He shouted, trying to free himself from the restrains, but even his cybernetic arm wasn't strong enough to break the hold. "Let me out of here!"

Javar shook his head. "You've got to be kidding. You attacked us, brought us here, and now you want out because he turned on you, too? Go to hell."

"I can get you out of here. I know all of Cerberus's base, There's a secret shuttle area just down the hall, there's a hidden door on the left side of the hallway. I don't care about it, take it and get the hell out of here. I just want the Illusive Man, I want to kill that bastard! Please!" Cairo pleaded, desperation filling his eyes.

Javar grunted, before looking to Phaes and Kresh.

"You're a bastard, Cairo. You killed one of my best men at Reactor, and the rest of my team on Hydra. I would kill you, given the chance, but these are extreme circumstances. So, as long as you're not going where we go..." Phaes said, before moving forward and hitting the controls on the terminal. It was a known fact that Salarians processed emotions faster than other species, but Phaes was awful quick and trusting to a man who had killed so many close to Phaes. But Phaes seemed confident. Cairo fell to the floor, and slowly stood up. Javar had initially raised his gun, but slowly lowered it once he came face to face with Cairo.

"Thank you." He stated, his tone truly thankful, a rarit for assassins. He moved to the doors and exited the room, moving down the hall at a jogging speed.

"That was...unexpected." Javar said, shaking his head.

"Just a man looking for vengeance, I guess." Kresh said, turning to the others.

"It's a shame about Dom, but he seems beyond our ability to save him, even if we could recover him. A retrieval mission seems destined to fail either way." Phaes added.

Javar sighed, nodding. It was a hard truth to face, the complete loss of a fellow soldier, which he had to experience three times today, twice with Dom alone, but he knew they couldn't save him, not now. As much as he would like to, Cerberus had turned him into the very thing he hated, and probably wished to never become.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Javar stated, gripping the pistol tightly and leading the others out of the room.


	12. A Hero Lost, Pt 2

**Author's Note: **_Tensity and desperation will no doubt be the themes in this chapter. If you've read this far, then this chapter may just have what you've been waiting for since the start. Enjoy!_

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Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 12: A Hero Lost, Pt. 2

Javar, Kresh, and Phaes all quickly moved down the left side of the hall. They could hear chatter from other rooms nearby, and a few gunshots, which they assumed was Cairo. They passed an opening that led into another room undetected, and finally reached the end of the hall, all of them desperately wanting to escape quickly. Phaes was limping and hurting pretty badly, his broken arm pounded with pain as every step was taken, and his leg that Cairo had shoved a blade into didn't help, causing him to limp fairly slowly, but he was moving.

"Okay.." Javar said, pressing his hands against the left side of the wall and pushing. After a few moments of pushing on different parts, a section of the wall slid up, revealing a secret doorway into a small hanger. There was a small shuttle leading into space. "Here!" He whispered to them, helping them both through as quickly as he could, before going through himself.

A missile out of nowhere crashed into a wall directly behind Javar, Kresh, and Phaes, sending them flying forward and the rubble of the wall collapsing over them. Deja Vu in the worst form known in the galaxy. Phaes cried out in pain as a large chunk of wall crashes onto his broken arm. Javar slowly began to stand up, turning to face where the rocket came from, to see Dom carrying a missile launcher. He let it clatter to the ground, picking up the gun Javar had been carrying that was flung across the room in the blast.

"Clever escape attempt...too bad it's futile." Dom said, glancing the gun over, his white and blue eyes casting a menacing gaze as he looked up directly at Javar.

"Dom...don't do this. Come on. I know it's still you." Javar said, slowly raising a hand, trying to urge Dom to drop the gun. Phaes and Kresh slowly got to their feet, staring at the man who they had been on the same side with only hours prior.

"You don't see the bigger picture, Javar. Fighting the Reapers is pointless, destroying them is a mistake! Why would we want to blow up machines with that kind of technology? Do you have any idea how advanced they are? If we seized control, we could ascend and-"

"Listen to yourself!" Kresh shouted, interrupting Dom. "You're indoctrinated! They implanted you! You don't know what you're saying!

Dom turned his attention to Kresh alone, and took a few steps forward. "I don't know who you are, but you wouldn't understand. None of you would! You're not Human! You wouldn't know a noble goal if it was right in front of your face!" Dom shouted, aggravated at the ignorance of the three people in front of him.

"Dominic, listen to us. We're your team. We fought together, we're on your side. Don't you remember?" Phaes asked, trying to reason with him.

"You only want to destroy what our goal is. That makes you no friend of mine, I'd be ashamed to call any of you part of a team I served on." Dominic retorted.

"No! You don't understand! You're an indoctrinated bastard!" Kresh shouted, both frightened and angry at the man in front of them.

"Dominic, think, remember! This isn't who you are! You're pointing a gun at your teammates, we're your friends!" Phaes stated harshly towards the human.

Dom hesitated, but slowly turned the gun onto Phaes, a baleful stare emitting from his eyes. His grip on the gun tightened, before he moved forward, so the gun was mere inches from Phaes's head.

"You're a traitor!" Dominic shouted, his words were infused with a passionate, determined anger that was unequivocal.

"I didn't want it to come to this." Phaes stated somberly, before swinging his good arm up, which was holding a scalpel he'd recovered and kept from the laboratory area. It sliced diagonally into Dom's face, opening a large gash that extended from his right lower cheek up to the left side of his forehead.

Dom fired almost simultaneously, a shot ringing out into the small hangar, sending out a spray of blood from Phaes's head and leaving a gaping hole in his former ally's head. Phaes's body slumped to the ground all at once.

Javar charged forward instantaneously, tackling Dom to the ground, the gun flying from his hand. He had been trying his hardest to avoid a direct confrontation with Dom, but everything came to a halt now, it wasn't Dom anymore. Javar quickly raised a hand and hit his former teammate in the face as hard as he could, and then again. When he went for the third strike, the former Human blocked his attack, and brought up a sharp elbow, catching Javar right in the temple and knocking him off Dom.

Dom then got to his feet quickly, and proceeded to deliver a thunderous kick directly to Javar's face, splitting his top lip open and sending him crashing to the ground. Javar recovered quickly though, and just as Dom headed towards the gun, he grabbed Dom by his feet and dragged him to the ground, climbing back on top of him and hitting him yet again in the face, a loud snap indicating the human's nose was completely shattered by the powerful blow. Dom, now severely pissed off, grabbed Javar by the throat as tightly as he could, strangling his former ally, and managing to get back to his feet, with an absolute death-lock on Javar's throat. It killed him to see Javar so resistant to the truth, he had hoped that the Batarian would come to his senses, but no such luck. He spit into Javar's face before slamming him into the nearby wall, and then again, and again. Blood was leaking profusely from Javar's face now, there were numerous gashes and cuts from the damage Dom had done alone, helpless, he slumped to the ground as Dom turned and headed towards the gun again.

Somehow, Javar got to his feet and ran towards Dom, he was dizzy, slightly unconscious, and was seeing blurs, but he pushed on, jumping and sending a roaring nova ability ripping through the small hanger, sending Dom flying into the opposite wall, crashing into it with a thunderous roar of impact. It was hard for him to continue fighting Dom, but he knew he was beyond the point of saving. Pushing onward, Javar then charged again, and just as Dom got to his feet, he was knocked back with a vicious shockwave, before being tackled into it with an unreal amount of force. Picking him up and turning him around, Javar wasted no time, driving him directly into the cold, hard floor with all the force he could muster. For the first time, Dom cried out in pain, arching his back and rolling over from the impact. Javar was an absolute monster in this battle, refusing to give up.

As he moved to pick Dom up, Dom shoved Javar back and charged forth, ramming him into the wall, giving him a taste of his own medicine, before grabbing the Batarian by the armor, and slamming his own head forcefully into the Batarian's, throwing him to the ground, and sending him sliding across the floor. Dom stole a glance at Javar, before turning and picking up the gun. Javar, who was physically drained and battered, somehow managed to get to his feet, which, with all he'd been through, was an insurmountable task. The numbing agent couldn't protect him from this sort of pain and exhaustion, but he wouldn't stop. Once he saw Dom with the gun, he reacted as quickly as he could, running only on fumes and adrenaline.

Javar quickly dove forward, tackling Dom to the ground and wrestling him for the gun, both men trying to gain control of it. Dom wrestled with all his strength, grunting and growling, fighting hard to gain control with a commendable passion, but Javar just wouldn't loosen his grip. He dropped one hand for a moment and slammed it into Dom's gut, but this had minimal effect on the modified human. Dom managed to flip himself and Javar over so he was on top, and a fierce right hand greeted Javar, slamming into his jaw. Crying out in pain, Javar's grip on the gun loosened, and Dom gained control. Simultaneously, Kresh grabbed the blade that Phaes had used on Dominic, and quickly slid it across the floor to Javar.

"Javar!" He shouted as he slid it across the floor.

Java grabbed the blade and lurched up, using one hand to grab Dom's gun and screw up the aim, and using his other to swing the blade around and jam it directly into the incision marks on the Dom's head, forcing the blade to penetrate fairly deep into incision marks, into Dom's head. This caused him to drop the gun, which Javar quickly recovered, before pulling the blade from Dom's head, spilling a large amount of blood down the side of his face and onto the floor.

Kresh quickly moved to the shuttle and got in, starting it up. He was frantic and desperate to leave alive.

Dom was slumped on the floor, not moving for several moments, before finally he started to slowly get up. The side of his head was bleeding badly, but when he looked up at Javar, only one of his eyes had the white and blue appearance, the other appeared normal.

"J-Javar..." Dom said softly, outstretching an arm towards Javar. "F...Finish it. P-Please...I can't d-do this..." He pleaded, before slowly his clear, regular eye started forming the white and blue tint, the modification prevailing.

"Let's go!" Kresh shouted, desperate to get off the station, for a civilian he had held up noticeably well, even if a little paranoid.

"I...I'm sorry, Dominic." Javar said, a tone that had a distinct sadness, but rang out as an acknowledgment of what he had to do. Nodding to his former Human comrade, he raised the gun.

With one final shot, it was over, and Dominic was finally put to rest, the rest he'd easily deserved with how hard he'd fought and how determined he was.


	13. Nothing But Vengeance

**Author's Note**: _Really close to the end here, guys! Let me know what you think!_

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 13: Nothing But Vengeance

Cairo moved through the halls swiftly, agile, ready for anything. He clutched a rifle he'd grabbed off a Cerberus Assault Trooper's corpse, after he'd jammed a scalpel deep into his throat and ripped his vocal cords out. Cairo was full of rage, nothing was going to stop him, he was on a vengeful mission to destroy the Illusive Man, and would stop at nothing

As he passed through another door leading up to the Illusive Man's office, he found two engineers and two assault troopers waiting for him. He brought his rifle up and fired in a horizontal line through all of them before they could get a shot out, slinging a new coat of red paint against the interior walls of the small hallway. One of the troops, barely alive, was crawling towards his gun in desperation. Cairo raised his rifle, and fired shots directly into both of the operative's arms, disabling him but leaving him alive to rot. As soon as they were all completely disabled or dead, he moved forward, grabbing a few thermal clips off the bodies, and slapping a new one into his gun before progressing through the next door.

There was only one room left.

As he charged through the door, he saw the Illusive Man standing in front of his chair, staring at the entrance. Cairo smiled, and flexed his trigger finger. Suddenly, from behind him, he was hit in the back of the head with something blunt, he fell forward, dropping his gun. He turned to see Kai Leng standing over him with an assault rifle. Kai smiled, before slamming his gun into Cairo again.

"I warned you, Cairo. Controlling your enemies is the way to true victory. And you just became my enemy." The Illusive Man said, turning around to pick up his cigarette. He appeared entirely calm and collected, despite the threat of Cairo being within mere feet. An arrogant move indeed, bordering on insanity.

Cairo felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head, but it wasn't about to stop him, not even for a second. In the blink of an eye, he sprung up and tackled Kai Leng to the ground, quickly jumping off him and going for one of the guns, but Kai Leng pulled his sword swiftly out of its holster and jammed it straight through Cairo's leg, and a good bit into the floor, pinning Cairo to the ground, just out of reach of the guns. Cairo screamed out in pain, outstretching a hand toward the guns. His cries of agony slowly turned to cries of desperation as he slowly found out he wasn't able to reach the guns. Kai Leng slowly came to the front of him, and chuckled a bit.

"I guess you're not the assassin you thought you were, are you?" Kai Leng asked, smirking at the straining Cairo. Kai was good at taunting his opponents, and wasn't the least bit shy about it. He'd only heard of Cairo before, though, this was their first face to face meeting. Given both of their reputations, it was surprising it hadn't happened before.

It took Kai Leng a second to realize that Cairo wasn't straining to reach the guns, instead, moving to the side, forcing the blade to cut through his flesh completely to one side, from the center. The sound of the blade tearing through his thigh was sickening, but Cairo just kept applying force. He was desperate to destroy the Illusive Man, that bastard had to pay, he wouldn't let anything stop him! After a few moment Cairo let loose a loud scream as he managed to tear away from the blade, half of his right leg literally dangling off. Coming up onto his good leg, Cairo tackled Kai Leng, and rolled to his side, grabbing one of the guns. He got to his knees and fired directly at the Illusive Man, drilling the whole clip into him.

Only he took no damage, he just got slightly distorted for a second.

Then the Illusive Man proceeded to walk through his chair, revealing that he was only a holographic display of the Illusive Man, and the color contrast of the dying star in the room hid the reddish tint, making him appear legitimate.

The Illusive Man was long gone.

Realizing this, Cairo dropped his gun just as Kai Leng kicked him in the head.

"Easy, Kai. He's still valuable to us. Disable him and fix his leg. Then fit him with the implant, I want him up and running tomorrow. I'll be back soon."

"Yes, sir." Kai Leng said, before the Illusive Man disappeared.

Cairo, in infinite pain and bleeding profusely, hesitated as Kai approached him. He was holding a syringe of sorts that had a yellowish liquid in it. Cairo tried to back up, but Kai planted his foot on the bad leg of Cairo, and he screamed out in pain, bolts of the most intense agony firing through his body, but foremost in his leg.

With all the force and pain tolerance he could muster, Cairo rolled over to his stomach, twisting his half -severed leg and causing a decent amount of flesh to rip away with a sickening tear. Letting loose a blood curdling scream, he grabbed the pistol that he'd dropped and turned back quickly, firing several shots into Kai Leng's armor. Though his shields absorbed it, it did cause him to drop the syringe and fall back.

Cairo managed to get himself up to his good leg, and hobbled towards Kai, his mostly-dead right leg dragging behind. Kai charged forward, tackling Cairo with brutal force and sending him crashing to the ground. Screaming in pain again, Cario quickly found himself on the receiving end of several hard-hitting punches right to the face. He managed to bring a hand up just in time and block one, using his free hand to pull one of the secret blades he had hidden in his armor out, and jamming it directly into Kai Leng's throat, though it only penetrated an inch or so.

Blood began spilling from Kai Leng's throat at a profuse rate, and he fell back quickly. Cairo seized the opportunity to roll onto his opposition and begin delivering harsh punches himself, nailing three dead on, forcing Kai Leng's nose to begin to bleed as well.

"You mother fucker!" Cairo shouted, bringing his blade up and moving to strike downward with it. As he did so, Kai grabbed his sword, which had been laying on the ground, and brought it up just in time to block Cairo's blade with an upward strike of his own, slicing through three of Cairo's fingers and sending his blade crashing to the floor. Kai wasted no time, shoving Cairo off of him, to the floor, and picking up the syringe he'd dropped. Cairo's stumps were bleeding inexhaustively, and he'd turned a pale white. His good hand was shaking, and sweat and blood coated his face extensively.

Kai Leng approached the assassin much less cockily, and more determined. Cairo, in a last ditch attempt to stop Kai, raised the gun yet again, but Kai swiftly kicked it away, sending it soaring through the air with a beautiful precision, letting it fall to the ground on the opposite side of the room.

Slowly, Kai kneeled, and in one swift movement, jammed the syringe into Cairo's left eye, emptying the content of the syringe completely.

Cairo's body began shaking in spasm lightly as Kai pulled the syringe from his eye, and slowly he felt himself drifting unconscious. That wasn't all though, it felt like things were starting to be erased from his mind, and that he was drifting into a sleep he wouldn't completely wake up from. It scared him, but he was powerless to fight back as he lost control of his motor skills, and slowly his eyes closed, drifting away into unconsciousness as the first part of the upgrade began to take effect.


	14. Fight For Tomorrow

**Author's Note: **_This is the last main chapter, the next (and last) one is more of an epilogue. Let me know what you think._

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 14: Fight For Tomorrow

Javar exited the Special Forces Tasks Group Communications Building on the Citadel, having just been cleared to return to duty. It had been two weeks since the Noveria mission, and it had taken him a while to recuperate, exhaustion overwhelmed him halfway back in the shuttle with Kresh, and he slept for 2 days straight. His muscles had been strained to, and pushed past, their max. The day after he woke up, he had surgery to reattach a tendon in his arm, and had since been cleared to return to duty after a speedy recovery and a few days of physical therapy.

He came to a railing not far past the entrance he'd just come out of, and looked around. The Citadel was beautiful, and he'd had the privilege of seeing how wondrous it was as he rested these past two weeks, but he had a foreboding hunch that it would play a crucial role with the Reapers. If Shepard's word wasn't enough, call it a gut feeling. The war against the Reapers was taking its toll, and there were rumors that Shepard was launching a mission on the Cerberus headquarters today. Power to him, he hoped Shepard would blow that place to hell, it was vile, and didn't have the best memories for Javar.

Javar had attended the official funeral for Dominic Hugo Vega, and had given a lengthy 15 minute speech on his experience with Dom, recounting the whole Noveria mission, the men they'd lost, he'd even went into grizzly detail about Dom's modification, but stressed that even though Dom became what he hated, he died a hero, and he had nothing but respect for humanity and Dom.

Javar started down a series of steps leading to a lower level of the Citadel, a park area. He moved past plenty of parents, children, and couples, before coming to a Salarian and his child. The two seemed happy, joyful. Javar smiled, before the Salarian turned and smiled back.

"Kresh! How are you?" Javar asked, shaking the Salarian's hand. This had only been the second time he'd seen the only other survivor of the Noveria mission besides himself since it actually happened.

"Javar! Hey! I'm good, I'd like you to meet my son, Lashton. Lash for short. Say hi, Lash!"

The small Salarian waved to Javar, forcing the Batarian to smile.

"We relocated here to the Citadel, and I've got a new job working as a dock worker at nights over at Docking Bay D22. We'll have to catch up sometime, I've got your email, maybe we can keep up on there?" Kresh asked.

Javar nodded. "Sure thing, I'll reply as quickly as possible. Glad to see you're doing alright, Kresh."

Suddenly, a Batarian Commander placed a hand on Javar's shoulder. Javar turned, surprised, but once he saw who it was, looked relieved. He turned, and nodded to Kresh. "I'll talk to you soon, Kresh, alright? Take care, Lash!"

"Take care, Javar, we'll talk to you soon!" Kresh said, nodding to the Batarian as he walked off with his Commander.

"Javar Al'Rah. I suppose congratulations are in order. Even though you failed the mission, I heard what happened with the Special Forces squad, the civilians, Cerberus, everyone. I think even Shepard would be impressed you came out of that one alive."

Javar chuckled. "I don't know about that, but thank you, sir. I just wish we hadn't lost so many men." He said, his tone turning somber and regretful.

"Understandable, I heard about Vega's funeral. That was unfortunate, but he was a hell of a soldier, as were Jush and Dezor." The Commander said, nodding, though his tone was fairly emotionless. One of the side effects of being a Commander, you somehow get used to so much death and destruction, it steals part of your emotions.

"Yeah...yeah, he was. They were. Beyond that." Javar said, recalling how much Dom had pushed himself, how hard he fought, and his optimistic attitude. The whole team had fought with everything they had.

"Anyways, Al'Rah, I hate to be too straight forward, but I'm here to ask about getting you on a new mission."

"Sounds good to me, I've just been cleared to get back on duty." Javar said, glancing around the Citadel before turning back to his Commander. He was eager to return to action, from reports, the Reaper forces weren't letting up at all, and he did the best on the frontlines, as he no doubt proved during the Noveria mission.

"You'll be working with a lot of humans, Al'rah. It's a mission on Earth. Is that a problem?" The Commander asked sternly.

Javar half-smiled. "No, sir. For the first time in a long time, that's not a problem." He said, fully and completely over his biased attitude towards humanity, he was completely fine with working with Humans, and even though he'd lost their home system, he hoped to be on the frontlines and help the Humans from losing theirs, as well.

"Get your gear on then, soldier. You leave in 5. Get to Docking Bay 21C and find Lieutenant Thompson. He'll get you on the right shuttle. Good luck, soldier." The Commander said, before nodding and walking away from Javar.

Javar nodded, "Thank you, sir." He said, before exhaling deeply and turning to head towards the market area to buy some new equipment for his next mission.

It was going to be hell, but he wouldn't have it any other way.


	15. Ephermeral Perfection

**Author's Note:** _This is it. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let me know what you think! Thanks guys, and as always, I appreciate any/all feedback!_

Special Forces: The Black Aegis

Chapter 15: Ephemeral Perfection

"Release him."

Cairo fell from the grips of the gurney and came face to face with the Illusive Man. He stared into his eyes, his deceitful, lying, bullshit-filled eyes. The man who had screwed him over, betrayed him, and wanted to turn him into an experiment was right before him. The man whom he tore off half of his own leg to try and attempt to kill.

And he knew he had been right along.

Cairo's eyes were glowing white and red, a side effect of a new type of upgrade being tested out on him, attempting to integrate the upgrade seamlessly with his personality, and leave him intact completely, but have him accept and realize Cerberus's ideals and goals, and embrace them unconditionally. The upgrade had thus taken much longer, but appeared to be worth it.

Cairo's head was pounding with pain, but he knew what had to be done.

"I need you to find and capture Shepard immediately. Kai Leng will be on the frontlines, and you'll be striking from the shadows. Find him, and disable him. Bring him to me, understand?" The Illusive Man asked.

"Understood." Cairo replied, moving to exit the door.

Cairo was flying to intercept the Normandy and capture Shepard, just as he'd been instructed by the Illusive Man. He was prepared to capture the Commander and let Cerberus upgrade him. He saw no reason why Shepard was trying to destroy the Reapers, he was making a horrible mistake, and having Shepard on their side would certainly shift the galaxy's ideas significantly. It was just one more step that had to be taken to ensure the Reaper threat was eliminated, but the Reapers were acquired.

Glancing to the helmsman of the shuttle, Cairo nodded. "How far along are we?" He asked directly, no emotion in his tone.

"Halfway there." The pilot replied.

Cairo decided there was time enough to take care of reading over Shepard's files to get a better idea of what to expect. As he headed to the back of the shuttle, though, suddenly his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts he couldn't remember having, and he fell to the ground with a cry of pain. The white and red in his eyes died, leaving just his pupils remaining.

The pilot darted up and moved to Cairo in a rush.

"Cairo! Are you alright? Let me help you up!"

Cairo wrapped his arm around the pilot and allowed himself to be helped up, but with his free hand he pulled his hidden blade from his thigh and shoved it up through the pilot's chin and watched it poke straight through until it came out of the top of his head. He pulled the blade from the pilot, who then fell backwards to the ground, dead. Cairo let the blade clatter to the floor, clutching his head. It was pounding unforgivably.

But he felt like himself again.

"S...shuttle...set course for Omega..."

"Omega destination set. ETA, 3 hours." The Ship VI responded.

Whatever the hell had happened, Cairo was himself again, and there was only one thing he could do, one thing to do. He had to get whatever the hell Cerberus had put into him out, and that wasn't going to be an easy task, but there was someone on Omega who would do it, he knew it.

And after that?

The only thing he wanted to live for.

Put a bullet through that bastard The Illusive Man's head.


End file.
